That's How It Should Be
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: 50 Jane/Lisbon-centric one-shots to quotes from romantic movies. Sorry there isn't a better summary, but there isn't much to say about this. Song title from "Not Like the Movies" by Katy Perry. Story 35: Turn This House Into A Home.
1. Take All The Time Lost

**Story 1 – Take All The Time Lost **

**A Jane/Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Author's Note: ****This was going to be angsty, but after last night's episode (and spending an hour crying) I decided to make it semi-angsty with a happy ending. It's not my best story, because after "War of the Roses", my writer's block came back with a vengeance. But I needed to do something, my poor shipper heart couldn't stand it. (And all the voices from the boys in my past came rushing back too, "you have a great personality, but you're not that pretty. . .").**

**Anyways, this was inspired by a line from "The End Of The Affair" with Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes. I've never seen it, because it's like mega R, but I thought the line was beautiful and fit Jane/Lisbon perfectly. Title comes from "All This Time" by OneRepublic. **

**.**

"**You see I never stopped loving you, even though I couldn't see you."**

**The End Of The Affair_**

"Lisbon! Lisbon is that you?"

The petite, brunette woman turned around and as emerald green eyes met sea blue; Patrick Jane knew it was indeed the woman that he had let go so many years ago.

"Hey Jane," she said quietly, pausing so he could catch up with her. "It's been a while, you're looking good."

"Not as good as you," Jane replied smoothly, grinning at her. "What brings you all the way over to Florida, business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure," Lisbon answered promptly. "The team chipped in to send me on a vacation as a birthday present this year."

"Your choice or theirs?" Jane asked.

"Their choice," she answered, shrugging. "But what does it matter?"

"How about I treat you to lunch, I know a great little place that sells the best soup and sandwiches" he said. "You can catch me up on everything that's been happening in your life since the last time I saw you."

"I'd like that," Lisbon replied, smiling at him genuinely.

.

"And so, we broke up and he went back to his ex-girlfriend," Lisbon said as she pushed her leftover chocolate cake around on her plate. "They got married in Napa last month, the ceremony was beautiful."

"And you were okay with going to their wedding?" Jane asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Of course I was," Lisbon replied. "I'm getting used to the fact that every relationship I'm going to be in is doomed for failure, because nobody I date seem to match up to. . . well, never mind. What about you? How have you been?"

"I've been doing well," Jane answered. "I'm doing free-lance consulting, but it's all I really need. I'm finally free, and I like that feeling."

"I'm glad you're happy," Lisbon said, pushing her dessert away.

"And I'm glad you're. . . okay," Jane said.

There was a long bout of awkward silence and then Jane signaled for the waiter to bring the check.

Lisbon rose and offered him an uncertain smile. "Well, I guess I should be getting back to my hotel now. It looks like rain."

"You don't have to do that!" Jane said quickly. "My apartment is right up the street. We could go there and catch up a little bit more, if you'd like. And if it's still raining when you want to go back to your hotel, then I'll give you a ride back."

"Would you like it if I came with you?" She asked uncertainly.

"I'd like it very much," he answered sincerely. He leaned forward to push a stray lock of hair away from Lisbon's face, his hand resting against her cheek for a breath of a moment. "Lisbon, you don't know how much I've missed you."

"Jane, you don't know how much I've missed _you_," Lisbon whispered.

_Yes Lisbon,_ Jane thought as he jerked away like he had been burned, _I do know how much you missed me. I know it's my fault that you missed me, it's something that I've regretted every single day since we parted ways._

"Are you okay?" Lisbon asked.

"I'm fine," Jane assured her. "Come on, let's get out of here."

It had just started to rain by the time they reached his apartment. Jane put a pot of tea on and they spent the rest of the afternoon together filling the empty, silent spaces of their relationship with small talk and old movies on _TCM_.

When it got late, Jane decided to throw some dinner together before he took her back to her hotel. It was like, even though they really didn't have anything to say to each other, he was trying to prolong her from losing her again.

**.**

They sat in the hotel parking lot, watching the rain pound on the wind shield, each time one of them started to say something, they stopped before they began. They both knew that the next words out of their mouth could possibly be the inevitable goodbye. And after finding each other after eighteen months of being separated, they both knew they never wanted to hear those words from the other's lips ever again.

"Lisbon?" Jane finally said.

"Yes Jane?" She asked, stealing a glance at him, her eyes tender under the dim lights of the lamp posts lining the parking lot.

He hesitated, weighing each of his next words carefully. He didn't want to seem presumptuous, but he wanted to know – _needed_ – to know. He took a deep breath, threw caution to the wind.

"Did you ever stop loving me. . . after I went away?"

Lisbon sighed. "No. Heaven knows I tried to stop, but you being away, not being able to see you only made my feelings for you grow by leaps and bounds. I love you more than I've ever loved you before. I just didn't realize it until I saw you today."

"Good. I'm glad."

"Really?" Lisbon asked. "Because last year, you weren't so happy to find out that I loved you—"

"It took leaving for me to realize that I loved you too," Jane told her as he turned to look at her. "And then I was too much of a coward not to come back. I couldn't face you, not after I had rejected you. Not after everything I had put you through—"

"Shh! Shh!" Lisbon said, putting a finger to his lips and shaking her head. "Let's not talk about the past. I just want to concentrate on right now, the time we have together tonight—"

Jane's face fell. "You're going back to California, I forgot."

"I have a life there; I just can't drop everything to move here and be with you. I'd need a darn good reason to do it."

"Isn't love enough?" Jane asked.

Lisbon hesitated, chewing her lip thoughtfully. "Why don't you come back with me? You could get your old job back at the CBI, and we could really be together. We could snuggle on the couch, and watch old movies and steal each other's books for as long as we both shall live."

He had never seen her this desperate, not even the night she had said, I love you. Not even on the muggy afternoon that she had pleaded with him not to kill Red John. And all he wanted to do was say yes. Because nothing had ever sounded sweeter than cuddling, and olds movies, and stealing each other's books for as long as they both should live.

And he knew, if he said _no_ then Teresa Lisbon would get on an airplane and leave his life once again. This time, it would be forever, because she would know better than to put herself in a situation where she could get hurt for a third time.

He didn't want to lose her forever.

Not this time.

Not ever.

This time the only thing he wanted to ever separate them was the inevitableness of death.

So, he looked into her eyes and said the bravest words that he had ever said since asking Angela Ruskin to be his wife.

He said yes.

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**I know the reasons why they separated in the first place were a little subtle, but I hoped it wouldn't matter. And I know there wasn't a kiss, but I just couldn't work it into this story. Plus, I know that nobody really wants to see good guy Jane after last night, but I couldn't help it. To me, he's still a good guy.**

**Please tell me what you thought of this and if it cheered you up just a little bit. Until the next story!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 2/17/1012**


	2. The Fear of Losing You

**Story 2 – the Fear of Losing You**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**Written by Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary: ****Jane's getting ready to leave the CBI, and Lisbon's protesting his leaving. But why exactly? **

**Disclaimer: ****I own NOTHING.**

**Shout-Outs: ****NeverMessWithTeddyBears, Agathancy98, lolly2222, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, vanrigsby, &Wldwmn, thanks guys! You're much appreciated over here.**

**.**

"**I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you."**

**Dirty Dancing_**

"You don't have to go you know," Lisbon said from where she sat on top of Jane's desk with her legs crossed and sucking on a watermelon Jolly Rancher that she had found in one of his drawers.

"I know that but I _want_ to go. There's a difference, you know," Jane replied. "Besides, it's not like I'm leaving California, I'm just leaving the CBI. I'll still meet you for lunch. . . every day if you'd like."

Lisbon smiled slightly. "You don't mean that."

Jane shrugged. "It's up to you if I mean it or not."

"I just wish that you'd stay," she muttered.

Jane grinned and looked up from the cardboard box he was packing his assorted junk in. So, you're finally admitting my usefulness to the team?"

"I didn't say that," Lisbon replied quickly.

"Yes. . . yes you did!"

"You close cases—"

"You really need to come up with a new lie," Jane interjected.

Lisbon sighed and leaned forward. "It's not a lie. You close cases. That's why I want you to stay."

"You still admitted my usefulness to the team," Jane replied, his impish grin grew wider. "I worked it out with Wainwright, anytime you think a case is too difficult, I want you to call me."

"That's not the same as being here every day."

"I'll miss you too," Jane answered. "But I like I said, I'll put in an effort to keep in touch with you. Now, how about we take a break and go down the street to the new ice cream parlor? I'm buying."

"Okay," Lisbon agreed, allowing him to take her hand and help her off the desk.

**.**

"Aren't you scared?" Lisbon asked, changing tactics as she took a cherry from the large ice cream sundae she and Jane were sharing.

"Scared of what exactly?" Jane replied.

"Leaving the CBI," Lisbon answered, dropping the cherry back into the ice cream. "Investigating is the only work that you've known for the past decade, what are you going to do now that it's all done?"

"I think I'll be able to manage," Jane said as he handed her a spoon. "Ladies first."

Lisbon sighed as she took the first bite like he had requested.

"Aren't you afraid of anything Jane?" She asked around her mouthful of ice cream.

Jane shook his head. "I can't come up with anything at the moment," he answered.

Lisbon sighed. "I wish that you'd at least _think_ about staying and not leaving."

"I have thought about it though," Jane said, taking a spoonful of their shared treat. "And I know what I'm doing; I wouldn't be leaving if I wasn't one hundred percent sure about it."

Lisbon rested her chin in her hand and observed him. "Fine then, if you're sure. I just want you to know, that you can always come back. . . if you get bored."

"I know," Jane assured her with a smile, leaning back to make his own observations of her. "It's really bothering you that I'm leaving."

"Not at all," Lisbon lied.

"Don't try and change your tune on me now dear. You've been protesting my leaving all day," Jane said.

"You close cases—"

Jane chuckled. "You already said that today."

"So, sue me then!" Lisbon snapped. "It's not my fault I'm worried about the CBI's reputation."

"Sure, it's all about the blessed CBI, and its holy reputation—" Jane began sarcastically.

"_It is!"_ Lisbon said ferociously.

"My dear lady, me thinkest that thou dost protest too loudly," Jane quipped.

Lisbon took a large bite of ice cream to avoid saying something that she could very well regret later on.

Jane grew serious. "Come on Reese, you know that you can say anything to me. Tell me what's really bothering you."

Lisbon shook her head and swallowed. "No."

"You know that I'm good at figuring things out—"

"Oh well! _Good_ for you!" Lisbon replied mockingly.

This shut Jane up immediately and they finished their ice cream in relative silence, letting the old-fashioned jukebox and the chatter from other patrons fill in the empty gaps between them. They avoided each other's gazes and chatted about nonsensical things.

When they were finished, Jane paid the bill and walked with Lisbon back to the CBI as they pretended not to care that the other cared. It was a cop-out, but there was no way in a million years that Lisbon could admit her real reasons for not wanting Jane to leave. Not when he had never given any inclination of feeling the same way.

**.**

"I am afraid of something," Jane confessed as Lisbon helped him put his few boxes in the trunk of his Citroen.

"What are you talking about?" Lisbon asked.

"You asked me earlier if there was something I was afraid of," Jane said. "And there _is_ something that I'm scared of."

Lisbon slammed the trunk shut and sat on it as she asked quietly, "What are you afraid of Jane?"

"Losing you," Jane answered bluntly.

She looked stunned. "But Jane, you're the one who's been saying all day that we're still going to make an effort to see each other—"

"I know," Jane said. "I've said it all day on purpose. Can't you see it Lisbon? You're the one who restarted my heart, I can't lose you because if I do, I might lose the feelings you reawakened in me. And I don't want to be a dead man again."

"If you're leaving because you're in love with me —"

Jane laughed. "I know the rules don't apply to me technically. I promise you, leaving is something I _want_ to do. How many times do I have to say it before you'll believe me Lisbon?"

Lisbon sighed. "But why tell me that you have feelings for me tonight? Now? I mean, you've had so many opportunities to do so before."

Jane shrugged. "Does the timing really matter as long as the things need to be said, get said?"

It was Lisbon's turn to shrug. "Sometimes it matters."

Jane smiled. "Do I need to ask you if you feel the same way about me? Or can I safely assume from the way you've been begging me to stay all day that you reciprocate my feelings? And if you say the only reason you've been protesting my leaving is because I close cases—"

"Oh Jane—"

"Don't say anything, because I already know the answer."

"And what makes you such an expert on my heart?" Lisbon demanded.

"You really have to ask?"

"Was I that obvious?" She asked, trying to feel mortified but failing miserably.

"You couldn't have been anymore obvious unless you had said something to me directly," Jane answered honestly.

Lisbon laughed as all the stress from the day melted away, leaving her with a shaky feeling of relief. She wasn't losing Jane completely, he loved her, and he needed her in his life. And she knew now, without a trace of doubt in her heart, that they would put in a huge effort to have a relationship outside of the CBI. And they would succeed, because they hadn't failed yet.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Again, not my best ending ever. But I've been suffering with writer's block ever since "War of the Roses". It's going away, but I have to make do with what Lola (my muse) is giving me. Please tell me what you thought of this story, remember all feedback is appreciated. Except stuff about Tom Swifties and whatever nonsense those book-isms are.**

**Until next time!**

**Holly, 2/27/1012_ **


	3. Ready to Confess

**Story 3 – Ready to Confess **

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary: ****Red John is gone, and it appears that Jane is finally ready to move on. . . but not with Lisbon, or so it seems. **

**Shout-outs: ****xJadeWeaponx, vanrigsby, et voila 1312, ShellGrad, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, & Wildwmn**

**Author's Note: ****This story was born from my frustration that every women that waltzes on and off the show is Jane's "match". I've sat through Kristina Frye, Erica Flynn, and Susan Darcy these past four years, and though they do give Jane a run for his money, I can't buy into the crap that any of those ladies are his perfect match. This story isn't exactly based on the quote, but it WAS inspired by it. Title kind of, sort of taken from "Put Your Arms Around Me" by Texas (from the end credits of **_**Ever After**_**).**

**Dedicated to: ****my sister, Hannah, who loves **_**Ever After: A Cinderella Story**_

**.**

"**She is my match in every way. Please tell me that I haven't lost her."**

**Ever After: A Cinderella Story_  
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Lisbon watched Jane leave with his date and sighed wearily as she started to clean up her desk for the night. She had always known the day would come when Jane would move on from the death of his wife and start to date again. She just had never been prepared for him to want to move on with somebody that wasn't her. In the years since she had first met Jane, she had foolishly allowed a part of her heart to hope that the day Jane finally could move on, he would look at her and see her as more than his co-worker and close friend.

She had allowed herself to hope that, maybe, she would be the One who finally won his heart when he finally decided to find a new woman to share his life with. After all, hadn't she been the one who had been there all along? Hadn't she been the one who had seen the worse side of him and stayed by his side, even though the worst side of him had scared her half-to-death?

Lisbon stole another glance at Jane and the woman by his side. She honestly thought she was going to suffocate. So, she lay her head on the desk, swallowed her tears down, and shot a prayer to Heaven that He would give her the strength that she needed to see her through Jane's new relationship.

**.**

Jane looked at Lisbon as they drove to a crime scene, in the past few weeks her cute little smiles, her breezy laughter, and her easy comebacks to his good-natured teasing had seemed to disappear. She had replaced them with the same professionalism from their earlier days together. Yes, she was friendly, but the friendliness felt stilted, the deep connection he thought they had shared had all but disappeared.

Her mannerisms towards him had all changed a month earlier, after his first serious date in years. She had tried to look happy for him, but her red-rimmed eyes and puffy cheeks spoke otherwise. She was heartbroken, and it was because of him.

He spent a fair enough time beating himself up about that fact. He knew that she loved him. . . had known it ever since Erica Flynn had made a second appearance in his life, but he had ignored all the signs, keeping her at arm's length while still searching for Red John. He promised himself that he'd think about her feelings for him _after_ the serial killer was dead and gone. He couldn't afford to think about it before then; he couldn't allow himself to love somebody or be loved by somebody he would most likely lose if he wasn't careful.

He shook himself from his thoughts and looked at Lisbon again, she looked so worn out. But there was an unwavering strength to her weariness.

It was the same strength that he saw every day, but today the strength was different somehow. He breathed in sharply as realizations hit him like icy cold water on a blistering hot day.

He loved her too.

He had loved her for years.

And he had realized it before, like when she had showed up at the prison after she had killed Red John, the afternoon they had shared an ice cream sundae, the second Erica Flynn had kissed him. Each and every time the feeling had come upon him unexpectedly, and every single time he had made a point to suppress it.

He hadn't been brave enough to deal with her feelings. So, of course dealing with _his _would have been an even harder task to face.

But he was ready now. Everything he had been afraid of had disappeared like Dandelion dust on a breezy day the day Red John had been executed. He didn't know what had taken him so long to see it before.

**.**

"You finally realized you loved her," Melissa Jones commented as she poured herself another glass of white cranberry juice.

Jane looked startled. "How'd you know?"

"Oh _please_," Melissa scoffed. "A person doesn't have to be as observant as you are to realize that you were head over heels. She's the only person that you ever talk about; I've always wondered why you agreed to fake date me when you could have been in a real relationship with her the whole time."

"I thought I owed it to you after all the times I had swindled your father out of his money," Jane answered, wincing slightly at having to mention his past wrong-doings. "By the way, how are things coming along with Mark?"

"He called me last night," Melissa answered of her absent boyfriend as she lay her hand on her expanding stomach. "We talked for a long time; we're going to meet for dinner tomorrow. He told me that he has something important that he wants to discuss with me."

"See, I told you that my plan was foolproof!" Jane crowed. "No self-respecting man would ever allow another man to raise his child, especially when that man is still deeply in love with the mother of his child."

Melissa smiled as she bestowed a friendly peck to his cheek. "Thank you Patrick, I could have never done it without you. I'll call you and tell you how things go tonight, okay?"

"You better," Jane answered, squeezing the younger woman's hands gently. "Best of luck Melissa."

"Best of luck to you too! Don't forget to call her!" Melissa said in reply as she gathered up her coat and purse.

Jane laughed and made a show of pulling out his cell phone. "I'll get right on it."

**.**

"What's the idea of having meeting you so late?" Lisbon asked as she entered the little dessert bar clad in skinny jeans and an oversized baseball jersey.

"I needed to talk to you," Jane answered.

Lisbon sighed and fell into the seat across from him, eyeing him wearily. "And it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"No," Jane replied seriously. "What I need to talk to you about couldn't wait a moment longer. It's waited long enough."

She closed her eyes. "Jane, will you please just spare me? I already know."

"You do?" Jane asked as a waitress brought them two large slices of cheesecake covered in caramel sauce.

Lisbon nodded and opened her eyes, shooting him a piercing gaze. "You're in love again."

"It was sort of inevitable," Jane said.

"With somebody that you only met a month ago?" Lisbon asked snippily.

"I've known her much longer than a month."

"She's somebody from your former life then," Lisbon said, her mouth pulling into a thin line.

"Not really," Jane answered, suddenly not in the mood to play games with her. "The young woman you saw me with last night was the daughter of an old client. I was merely assisting her with a problem she was having."

"And what problem did she have that required the two of you to go off together in formal wear?" Lisbon snapped.

Jane sighed, feeling a little bad about betraying Melissa's confidence even though he knew that she wouldn't really mind. Especially since the details _were_ a means to an end.

"She found out she was pregnant, and her boyfriend split up with her," Jane answered slowly. "She was merely using me to make him jealous and get him to come back to her."

"Oh yeah?" Lisbon asked skeptically. "Did it work?"

"I don't know yet," Jane replied. "They're meeting for dinner tomorrow night."

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Lisbon said. "If this woman you were supposedly helping is really a daughter of one of your old clients, then she's probably really young—"

"She's not that young!" Jane interjected. "She's probably in her early thirties. What does that have to do with anything, anyways?"

"If you have to ask, then it isn't important!" Lisbon said in exasperation.

Jane took her hand and held on tightly so she couldn't pull away. "But it _is_ important to me. Come on Lisbon, you could always talk to me before, please talk to me again."

"You were. . . you were. . ." Lisbon faltered, afraid of showing too much. "You moved on. . . you were actually taking her places—"

Jane laughed. "I told you, I was _helping_ her. And even if we were in a serious relationship, it would have _never_ worked out because we couldn't have ever loved each other. She would have always loved the father of her child. And I-I would have always loved. . . I would have always loved you Lisbon."

"What did you just say?" She asked breathlessly.

"I would have always loved you," he repeated, taking her other hand. "I know it's taken me a while to stop repressing what I've known for a while now. Oh Lisbon, I know I've been a fool. . . and what's worse, I've been a blind fool. Please tell me that I haven't lost you because of my stupidity."

Lisbon laughed as she ran her thumb over his knuckles. "No, no Jane you _never_ lost me. I've been here the whole time, heaven forgive me, waiting for something like tonight to happen."

Before he could stop himself, Jane had leaned across the table and had kissed her. He released her hands and threaded his fingers through her hair, placing his other hand on her cheek. She sighed against his lips, forgetting herself and where they were while she returned his kiss with all the love for him that had been slowly building up over the years.

They pulled away, blushing and completely out of breath. Jane took Lisbon's hand again and picked up his fork, giving her a wry grin.

"So, cheesecake?" He asked as his world returned back to normal once again.

"I'd love some," she answered, her smile lighting up her whole face as she tightened _her_ grip on _his _hand.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**So, yeah. . . there you go. I really have no idea where this came from. I had just finished reading another interview about Darcy, and when I was finished reading it, I just turned to my computer and started to type. This is the result. If you liked it, or even if you didn't, just press the little box below and leave a review. I enjoy hearing all sorts of feedback, except for pointless stuff. . . you know what I mean. Until next time!**

**Love you all,**

**Holly, 3/6/2012_**

**P.S**

**I'm working on a multi-chapter right now. Not giving away many details, but it's been something I've wanted to write for a year, I'm hoping to have the story finished by the end of the year. There's a trailer posted on YouTube, it's called "Darkness Before the Dawn". Feel free to check it out.**


	4. Surrender

**Story 4 - Surrender**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary: ****She had already surrendered to him. So, why was he having such a hard time surrendering to her? For the Paint It Red March challenge. Prompt: Surrender.**

**Shout-Outs: ****xJadeWEAPONx, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, lolly2222, Fangirl4everithing, et volia 1312, & Wldwmn**

.

**Surrender: (.der) [suh -ren-der]: 3. to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, or emotion**

"**You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept."**

**Princess Bride_**

She was close enough to him that he could smell the sweet scent of her cinnamon perfume, the watermelon gum that she kept popping large bubbles with, and the Coca-Cola Chap Stick she was wearing on her lips. She was close enough that he could almost feel the warmth radiating from her body; he could almost read the words from the book she was reading.

It was the moments like these, when she was stretched out beside him with her bare feet swinging in the air, that he entertained thoughts of completely surrendering to his feelings her. He knew she had already accepted the fact that she loved him. So, giving into his feelings for her should have been an easy feat. He didn't have anything to lose; her heart already belonged to him.

But then again, he had had everything to lose. Allowing himself to love Lisbon, especially with Red John still around, was akin to signing her death sentence. It was almost like signing his own death sentence, because he didn't think that he'd survive if he lost somebody else that he had allowed himself to care for so deeply.

Lisbon snuggled a little closer absent-mindedly, his pulse started to race, and his breathing grew shallow. She sighed contentedly as she got more comfortable against his side, and his list of cons went flying out the window.

If he didn't think about it, then surrendering would be easy.

It was almost as if she had read his thoughts, she put her book down and smiled up at him.

Jane opened his mouth, ready to launch into a wordy monologue about realizing certain things, and how he was ready to give himself to her in every way he possibly could. But the look on her face said that he didn't need to say anything, she already knew exactly what he was thinking.

So, he put his arms around her, held her a little closer, brushed his lips against her hair and he did something that was a long time in the making. He surrendered.

He simply surrendered.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**I know this isn't like what I normally do. Heck, I don't even think it's that great. . . and it took me about eleven days to write 348 words, but I'm happy with the end result. Please tell me what you thought.**

**Yours,**

**Holly, 3/20/1012_**


	5. 1 plus 1 equals 3

**Story 5 – 1+1 = 3**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: ****Jisbon4ever, xJadeWEAPONx, vanrigsby, ShellGrad, Wldwmn, and TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme **

**Author's Note: ****I have to give some credit to Just Mosie, for helping me flesh out certain parts of this story, I couldn't have done it without her help. A couple more things, this story takes place exactly nine months after "Something Rotten in Redmund", so there will be slight spoilers for that episode, and then there are tiny spoilers for season 5. So, read at your own risk. Lastly, the title was taken from a scene from the Fox show, "Touch".**

**Dedicated to:**** My sister, Katherine. . . who laughed and cried with me when we watched "Fools Rush In" a couple of weeks ago**

**xJadeWEAPONx, you know why I'm dedicating this to you darling!**

**.**

"**You are what I never knew I always wanted."**

**Fools Rush In_**

"I'm here!" Jane said rushing into the waiting room. "Has the baby come yet? How's Lisbon doing?"

"The baby hasn't come yet, and she's asking for you," Rigsby replied.

"_Me?_"Jane repeated. "Lisbon's asking for _me_?"

"Yeah," Cho replied, looking at him evenly. "Why wouldn't she want you there? You went with her to all the birthing classes, didn't you?"

"Er, yes."

"That makes you her birth coach," Rigsby said.

Jane was about to reply when a nurse came out and touched him on the shoulder. "Are _you_ Patrick Jane?" she asked.

"Yes. . ."

"Finally! Come with me, Agent Lisbon has been waiting for you."

"Literally?" Jane asked.

"Of course not," the nurse replied as she led him into the delivery rooms. "I mean, let's be realistic, if the baby's going to come, then she's going to come. It doesn't matter if you're here or not."

"There you are!" Lisbon exclaimed as he came into her room. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show up!"

"Traffic was a nightmare, Jane said apologetically. "But I'm here now. How far apart are your contractions?"

Lisbon shrugged. "They're not too bad yet."

"Teresa Lisbon, you are not like other woman!" Jane said in admiration.

"It's just childbirth," she replied. "Please Jane, I've been through worse situations than this."

"You won't be saying that in a couple of hours," the nurse said as she adjusted the IV that was snaking into Lisbon's hand.

She rolled her eyes at Jane. "If I scream _once_ or call you bad names, you have my permission to Gibbs-slap me."

"Yes Boss," Jane said solemnly as he pulled up a chair. So? Are you going to tell me who the father is?"

"Nope," Lisbon replied, reaching for her cup of ice chips, she fished one out and chewed it, buying herself sometime. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter anyways, he won't want to be involved. He's a little—"

"Self-absorbed?" he finished for her.

"Bruised," she answered, swallowing another ice chip.

"Mmh. . ."

"Don't worry about me," Lisbon said quietly. "There are dozens of single mothers out there, most of them younger than me."

"But—"

"No Jane, don't say anything. I know what you want to say, and the sentiment is sweet. . . but I don't want to hear it. What happened, happened. Nothing neither of us can do to change that."

Jane studied her quietly, wanting to push the subject further, but knowing that she wouldn't talk about it. . . no matter how much he forced her to.

Lisbon fiddled with her hospital bracelet. "Um. . . my ice chips are melting. Could you run and get me some more please?"

"As you wish," Jane replied compliantly. "You just sit still and I'll be right back."

**.**

Lisbon bit back a scream as the pains of labor rippled across her abdomen.

"Jane!" She called him over.

"Yes Lisbon?"

As another wave of pain went through her, she closed her eyes and grit her teeth together. "Remember _not_ to let me scream."

Jane nodded, remembering what Lisbon wanted him to do if she screamed. In all honesty, he didn't want to have to hit her upside the head, but he also knew that she was serious about it.

Lisbon gripped the blanket tightly to keep from vocalizing how much pain that she was in. She whimpered quietly as she tightly grasped her swollen stomach with her other hand.

"Lisbon," Jane said, fully in tune with her pain now. "Look at me, Teresa."

She turned to him wearily, and when he was sure that he had her full attention, he led her through the breathing classes that they learned in Lamaze classes.

Twenty hours of hard labor later, the nurse was handing Lisbon her baby daughter.

Jane looked down at the little bundle in Lisbon's arms, ready to congratulate her on her beautiful child when he noticed something _very_ familiar about her. Something that wasn't Lisbon, but very much him.

His pulse quickened as he looked up at Lisbon, who was studying him with a worried expression in her already tired eyes. He swallowed hard and forced himself to take a breath before muttering something inaudible to her and bolting from the room.

Lisbon's heart sank, she knew that her well-concealed secret was finally out in the open. She sighed, wonder what in her baby's face had tipped him off to her whole parentage.

**.**

_I'm a father_, he thought again and again as he started to make the long drive to his home in Malibu. _I'm a father again! _

He wanted to be furious with Lisbon, after keeping it a secret for nine months; she had just delivered his baby. But as hard as he tried to, he couldn't muster up an ounce of anger towards the petite brunette. She probably had had her reasons for _not_ telling him that he was going to be a father.

Driving all the way to Malibu, just so he could wallow in self-pity, suddenly seemed like a bad idea. So, he turned around and made his way back to the hospital to see Lisbon again.

"You came back!" She said as he came into her room, her face brightening slightly. "How are you?"

"Good," Jane answered quietly, looking at her like he was only seeing her for the first time.

_She had had _his_ baby! _For some reason, this made her even more beautiful to him.

"How'd you know?" Lisbon asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"How did I know what?" Jane replied.

"That she was yours too," she clarified.

"Oh. . . there was a birthmark on her left shoulder," he said. "I have one in the exact same spot."

"Oh." There was a long pause, and then she cleared her throat. "Listen. . . Patrick, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the baby was yours. It's just things were so complicated nine months ago—"

"You don't have to tell me anything!" Jane interjected.

"I need to though. . . I should have told you nine months ago."

Jane nodded, slightly and came further into the room to take a seat on the edge of her bed.

"It happened the night that Benjamin was born."

Jane nodded again, remembering that she had gone to his hotel room later in the evening. Her comforting touches and words had escalated into more too quickly. Neither of them had meant for it to happen, after it was over, she had left him without saying a word. Up until today, he had regretted what had happened between them.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "It was my fault, I shouldn't have kissed you—"

"No! I'm just as much to blame as you are. I could have told you to stop," Lisbon replied.

"Why didn't you tell me that _I_ had gotten you pregnant?" Jane asked, suddenly needing to know the reason for the secrecy.

"I was going to!" Lisbon answered. "But things got so crazy, and then you started to see Lorelei. . . I thought you were happy. And I wanted so badly for you to be happy. So, I decided to not interfere with your life, and just keep it to myself."

"But I had the right to know!" Jane insisted. "A part of me was growing inside of you!"

"If I had told you, then you would have ended things with Lorelei so you could do the right thing by me! In the end, you would have just resented me!" Lisbon argued back.

"No!" Jane burst out. "I _wouldn't_ have!"

"How do you know? You aren't psychic! You can't that you wouldn't resent me or Olivia!"

"I _DO _know that I wouldn't have resented!" Jane maintained. "Because I. . . I-I-_I LOVE YOU_!"

Lisbon faltered. "Wh-what did you just say!"

"I love you," Jane repeated.

"No, no you don't. . ."

He knew why she was protesting the statement, why she was having trouble believing it. Up until the words had left his mouth, he hadn't even known that he loved her.

"I do," he whispered, taking her hand and rubbing a gentle circle around the IV running through her vein. "I didn't know it until now, but I _do_ love you."

Lisbon's bottom lip quivered and she cursed her hormones. But she _had_ been hoping for the last nine months that Jane would suddenly wake up and say these things to her. And now that it had happened, she could scarcely believe it. She took a deep, shuddery breath and gave him a watery smile.

"I love you too."

"Another thing is. . ." he stopped suddenly. "Wait! Did you say that you love me too?"

"Yes," she whispered shyly. "I've loved you for a long time now, I just didn't know how to tell—"

Jane didn't let her finish, he leaned over and kissed her square on the mouth. She responded immediately, awkwardly wrapping her arms around his neck and pouring ten years of pent up emotion into it.

"I love you," she said again, barely moving her lips from his.

"Yeah, I love you too," Jane replied, kissing her again before taking her in his arms and lying down with her, holding onto her tightly. "Now, what did you name our daughter?"

Lisbon smiled, loving the way _our_ sounded coming from his lips.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II: **

**This started out as something I JUST HAD to write, but I quickly lost steam writing it. So, sorry if it's disappointing, please drop a line and tell me what you thought!**

**Love,**

**Holly 4/9/2012_**

**P.S**

**I promise, the next one-shot won't take as long. I already know what quote that I' m going to use! Oh, and I would love to know if you're interested in me posting the songs that I use while I write a particular one-shot, or story.**


	6. Its You

**Story 6 – It's You**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: ****vanrigsby, Jisbon4ever, LAurore, Agathancy98, Wldwmn, xJadeWEAPONx, and TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme. . . thanks for the reviews guys. I was kind of astounded by the support of my last fic, astounded and ever appreciative!**

**Author's Note: ****I omitted a word from the quote. . . I know it sounds stupid, but I just don't do cussing. **

**Now, to the story! Hope you like it.**

**.**

"**If I want a wife, I'll find one myself, and I have. And it's you!"**

**Hello Dolly_**

"Are you ready for your blind date tonight?" Lisbon asked Jane as she finished cleaning up her desk.

"No, not really," Jane replied.

"She's a really great girl," Lisbon said. "I promise."

"I've heard that one before," he quipped.

"Oh come on Jane, just give her a chance! She has a Law degree from _Harvard, _andshe speaks five languages. Plus, she's gorgeous! She modeled for two years in _Milan_!"

"And how do you know her again?" Jane asked.

"She in the same Yoga class that Van Pelt and I take," Lisbon answered. "But that's neither here nor there. The point is, she's a great and she's newly single—"

"Great, she has baggage."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Look who's talking."

"You know, she only agreed to see me tonight because she's looking for a rebound, right?" Jane asked.

"She is not!" Lisbon insisted. "Just give it a try; you might actually wind up having fun."

"Fine," Jane answered. "But only because you asked me to."

**.**

"Right, she's not looking for a rebound!" Jane whispered as Lisbon introduced him to a willowy blonde in a strapless, plum-colored dress.

"_Jane!_" Lisbon covered her mouth to conceal a giggle.

"What's so funny Teresa?" The blonde asked.

"Nothing!" Lisbon answered, glimpsing at Jane and clearing her throat. "Nothing at all, it's just an inside joke. Patrick meet Skylar Miller, Skylar this is Patrick."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Skylar said, holding out her hand for Jane to shake it. "Grace and Teresa have told me _so_ much about you!"

"It's nice to meet you too," Jane replied, stealing a glance at Lisbon. "I can't say that I've heard a lot about you, but everything I have heard was all good things."

Lisbon shuffled her feet, suddenly feeling horribly out of place at the fancy restaurant. "Well. . . I'll just go now. Jane, I'll be here to pick you up at midnight."

"Or sooner," Jane said, smiling at her. "I know you like to be in bed early on week nights, I wouldn't want to put you out."

"Really, you wouldn't be putting me out!" Lisbon replied, backing away slightly. "Have fun you two!

"Thank you Teresa," Skylar said with a smile. "You have a good night."

**.**

"So?" Lisbon asked with a yawn as she picked up Jane later that night. "Did you like her?"

"Who? Skylar?" Jane asked. "She was okay, I guess. She talked about herself all night. I thought that it would never end."

"Well, I'm sorry. . . she doesn't seem so self-absorbed when we're together at Yoga class," Lisbon said, stifling another yawn, she laughed. "So, there isn't going to be a second date?"

"Not if I can help it," Jane answered. "Although I'm pretty sure that she would like there to be a second date."

"Full of yourself much?" she teased.

"She asked me out again," he said.

"Oh."

"But I told her that I wasn't interested," Jane said.

"Well, I'll try harder next time," Lisbon promised.

"You really don't have to do this for me Lisbon," Jane replied. "I'm happy the way I am. . . I've been single for so long now, I don't know if I know how to be in a relationship anymore."

"Nobody deserves to be alone though," Lisbon whispered.

"Look who's talking," Jane said dryly. "When was the last time you went out on a date anyways? Maybe I should be the one looking for a date for _you_."

Lisbon shook her head. "No, I'm perfectly content with being single for the rest of my life. Besides, the one person I could see myself spending the rest of the life just doesn't see me."

"Well, he's a complete fool then."

"You're only saying that because we're friends," Lisbon said, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink.

"But you feel better about yourself, right?" Jane asked.

"A little," Lisbon answered, biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"Well then," Jane said, smiling at her even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see him. "My job is done for the night."

**.**

"Her name is Dotty Smith," Lisbon said as she and Jane shared ice cream on CBI the rooftop. "She works across the street. I talk to her when I'm in line at Marie's. She said that if you were interested, then she'd love to go out with you sometime."

"This is the fourth blind date you've set me up on in two weeks, you know that right?"

"So?" Lisbon replied. "You're not having fun?"

"No, not so far," Jane answered. "First there was Skylar, and then there was Jackie, after Jackie there was Madi. . . all three of them were totally self-absorbed, uninteresting snobs."

Lisbon sighed. "They couldn't have been that _bad_!"

"You've spent a lot of time with them," Jane said. "How could you _not_ see it! You're usually a good judge of character Lisbon."

"Well, maybe I do see it," Lisbon said. "Maybe I'm just setting you up with the women I think are your type. I mean, given your track record with the women that you've been interested in since I've known you—"

Jane sighed. "Never mind. If it'll make you happy, I'll go out with Dotty. Okay?"

"I'll call her and tell her that you're interested," Lisbon answered with a grin. "Where should I tell her that you want to meet?"

"I dunno the other women I've gone out with picked the places. Why don't you ask her where she wants to go and when?"

Lisbon made a face. "Put a little effort in, would you?"

"Why should I?" Jane asked. "You're the one who wants me to go out on all these stupid dates; you should be the one who puts the effort in."

Lisbon huffed. "Fine, but I'm warning you that Dotty has expensive places."

"So? All the other blind dates did too," Jane answered. "I'll pay for one expensive dinner if it means that I get you off my back for a while."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to help."

"Help with what?" Jane asked.

But Lisbon didn't answer, she had gotten Dotty on the phone and telling her that Jane had agreed to go on a date with her.

**.**

"What was wrong with Dotty?" Lisbon asked as Jane barged into her apartment a few days later. "Did she talk about herself all night?"

"NO!" Jane answered. "She wanted to talk about me and my _tragedy_, and how I felt about not getting to kill Red John. She's a bloody psychiatrist!"

Lisbon paled. "She promised not to say anything to you about any of that."

"So, _you're_ the one who told her then?"

Her eyes widened at the accusation. "Oh please Jane, everybody knows what happened! Especially now because Red John was killed by a state agent. I would _never_ betray your trust like that! Don't you know me at all?"

Jane sighed and sat down on the couch, shaking his head slightly. "Then why did you set me up on a blind date with her?"

"Because I thought she was a professional, and that she'd be able to separate her work from her personal life," Lisbon answered, sitting down beside him. "I really am sorry Jane, if I had known what she was going to do—"

"I know," Jane said softly, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "You wouldn't have set us up in the first place. I'm sorry that I got angry with you."

"Well, I forgive you. . . but only because you forgave me," Lisbon said, nudging him with her shoulder gently.

He grinned and nudged her back. "Thanks."

**.**

"Do you really like her?" Lisbon asked as she and Jane jogged through the park one sunny afternoon in late spring.

"I really like her!" Jane confirmed. "I didn't think that it was possible, but you did good this time Lisbon!"

"I try," she replied modestly, grinning at him as he ran circles around her.

"So, where'd you find this one?" He asked, stopping to catch his breath.

"She goes to my church," Lisbon answered. "She and I are on the same nursery rotation. And sometimes we sit together during the service."

"Well that would explain why she's better than all the rest," Jane said.

Lisbon scoffed. "That's so stereo-typical Jane!"

"If the shoe fits!" Jane called, sprinting off. "Come on! Last one at your carhas to pay for the loser's ice cream!"

"You're on buddy!" Lisbon shouted back, chasing after him.

They both arrived at Lisbon's car at the same time, sweaty and out of breath.

"Tie!" Jane said, bending down and taking a deep breath.

"Flip you for it!" Lisbon answered, opening the car door and fishing a quarter out from the change-holder. "Heads you pay, tails I'll pay."

"Deal," Jane replied as he stretched out.

Lisbon flipped the coin and grinned triumphantly. "Heads! I guess that means you'll be paying. I hope you brought your credit card Patrick, because I'm absolutely starved!"

"Why don't I just buy you a full meal then?" Jane asked as he slid into the passenger seat and buckled up.

"Because I want ice cream," Lisbon answered, turning on some music. "And you, my friend, have a date in two hours."

"Fine," Jane said. "But you have to promise me that you will eat more than ice cream tonight."

Lisbon sighed. "You worry about me too much."

"I'm just repaying the favor, since you're always worried about me."

**.**

"It's over," Jane told Lisbon a month later.

Lisbon's face fell. "I'm sorry, I really thought that she was different from the others."

"And she was. . . _is_," Jane assured her. "But we both talked about it, and we both realized that we want different things from life right now. The more I think about it, the more I want commitment. She just wants to have fun, and while there's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not for me."

"Oh." Lisbon pursed her lips together. "But you're okay, right?"

"I'm fine," Jane said. "I wasn't in love with her or anything. Heck, I couldn't even see myself spending the rest of my life with Irene. I had fun with her, and that's all. We didn't even do any of the couple-y things like hold hands or kiss."

"Irene made it seem like she was falling into passionate love with you."

"Maybe she didn't want to disappoint you," Jane suggested. "She probably knew how much you were counting on this one working out because you felt like you had failed the three other times you set me up."

Lisbon made a face. "Rub it in my face, why don't you?"

There was silence, and then Jane sighed.

"How about dinner?" He asked.

"Maybe," Lisbon answered, standing up. "Are you paying?"

"Always," Jane replied, getting her jacket and helping her into it.

**.**

"I think I found the perfect person for you to go out with!" Lisbon said three months later. "She's smart, beautiful, and looking to get married—"

"Lisbon," Jane sighed wearily.

"Yes Jane?" she asked.

"_Why!" _

"Why?" Lisbon repeated. "Why what?"

"Why do you keep setting me up on these blind dates?" Jane asked.

Lisbon opened her mouth to reply. "Because—"

"I mean, don't you think I'm perfectly capable of finding dates on my own?"

"I guess—"

"Because I was capable of finding dates on my own before I met you," Jane said. "I mean, I was married before and she was an amazing woman, there's only one other woman in my life who could match up to her."

Lisbon frowned. "Are you getting at something Jane?"

"Yeah, I don't want you to find anymore dates for me," he replied. "If I want to date somebody, I'll choose the person I'm going to date. And I have chosen the person that I'd like to have a serious relationship with, and it's _you_!"

"Okay! Fine then, be that way—!" Lisbon snapped before faltering slightly. "Wait, what did you say?"

"You're the person that I want to have a serious relationship with," Jane replied.

"But why didn't you say anything before?" Lisbon asked.

"Because I didn't know before," Jane answered. "It's only something that I've been slowly realizing these past few months. I found myself looking forward to my blind dates because you were driving me to and from them, I couldn't wait to wake up and come to work in the morning because I'd got to see you again. And when Irene and I broke up, I realized that I didn't really need anybody. . . I had built my whole world around _you_."

Lisbon took a deep breath. "Oh Jane, I'm not what you need. . ."

"You're _exactly_ what I need!" He insisted.

"But I'm part of your past! And you need to move on from your past, and you could never do that in a relationship with me—"

Jane sighed in frustration. "But I know I could! You don't see it, do you? You've already started to help me move on."

"But Jane, there's so many other things against me!" Lisbon protested. "I'm a cop, I don't have a degree from an Ivy League school—"

He shrugged. "So? I don't either."

"And I'm not as pretty as any of the women I've set you up with—"

"But you are!" Jane said. "You're _wonderful_ Lisbon!"

Lisbon shook her head and stood up, getting ready to bolt because her thoughts had become a tangled mess. "I need to go."

"Don't go!" Jane said, grabbing her wrist as she pushed past, desperate to prove to her that he was dead serious about being with her.

"Please let me go," she demanded as she struggled to get free of his grasp.

"Not until you say that you believe me when I say that you're the only one that I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Lisbon sighed. "But it would be a lie."

"What can I do to convince you that I'm serious?" Jane asked, pulling her a little closer.

Lisbon gasped as he released her wrist and snaked his arms around her waist. "Jane, _what are_ you doing!"

"Convincing you that I love you," he whispered as he brushed his lips with her's. He pulled away, his blue-green eyes twinkling as he smiled slightly. "Are you convinced yet?"

Lisbon's eyes fluttered shut and she shook her head a fraction of inch. "No."

"No!"

"No," she repeated, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I think I need a little more convincing."

Jane shook his head and found her lips again, more than happy to oblige her.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**So. . . yeah, there you have it. In "Hello Dolly!" Horace (portrayed by the hysterical Walter Matthau) and Dolly (played by the Goddess herself, Barbara Streisand) dance around his hay and feed store while he serenades her, and then it flashes to their wedding. One of my favorite scenes in the whole entire movie, but I didn't think it would work in this context. That's why you got the lameness above.**

**Click the little blue button marked **_**review **_**if you agree. . . or if you don't. Or just click it if you want to say, "Holly girl, you're taste in movies really stinks!", really I'm not picky. . . I just love feedback. Remember though, I only like negative feedback if it'll help me as writer.**

**Anyways, that's all for now. Until next time when I bring you the best in quotes from "We Bought a Zoo". . . or something else, depending if a different quote strikes my fancy.**

**Love you guys!**

**Holly, 4/12/2012_ **


	7. Good Stories and Gorgeous Guys

**Story 7 – Good Stories and Gorgeous Guys**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary: Just a little, plotless story I typed up this afternoon. ****Written for the 2012 Ficathon on Paint it Red, prompt given by Lothiriel84. **

**Shout-Outs: Jisbon4Ever, NeverMessWithTeddyBears, AngryLittlePrincess, Country2776, Wldwmn, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, and ShellGrad for reviewing the last story. I'm afraid that this one isn't as good as the last one, suffering from major writer's block. . . **

**Dedicated to: My cousin, E. . . I totally adore him! He's one of the best cousins a girl could ask for. **

**.**

"**That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."**

**Star Wars, Episode V: the Empire Strikes Back_**

"Lisbon! What are you doing here?" Jane asked looking up from his drink in surprise.

Lisbon cleared her throat and tried to look nonchalant about showing up in the same bar as him. "I was in the neighborhood when my car broke down in front of this diner."

Jane smiled. "You're a long way from home; you aren't working on a case, are you?"

Lisbon blushed, fully prepared to lie through her teeth about working on a case, but she knew Jane would be able to see right through her just like he always had been able to. She shook her head slowly. "No, I'm not working a case right now. Things are actually pretty quiet at the office, so I decided to take some vacation time to come and check on you."

"I'm touched!" Jane said, laying his hand over his heart. "You missed seeing me every day."

"NO!" Lisbon replied a little too quickly, her mind running through the hundreds of excuses she had made for her trip down to Malibu. "The team misses you; they're not enjoying the fact that they aren't able to close as much cases as they did when you were at the CBI."

Jane smirked. "You're sure that's all? I think you really missed having my handsome face around every day."

Lisbon got the distinct feeling that Jane was laughing at her. She squared her shoulders and threw one of her famous glares at him. "Don't flatter yourself Jane, life isn't all about you."

"Okay, so you aren't closing as many cases as you did before," Jane finally said, deciding not to argue with her.

Lisbon sighed and sat down across from him, she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "It's been five months since I've seen you. . . four since the last time you called me. I guess I just need to be truthful with you, and the truth is. . . I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," Jane said quietly, if he had said it any lower than Lisbon would have missed the phrase completely.

She studied his face. "I mean, I've _really_ missed you. I wanted to come and see you ages ago, but I just worked up the courage to do it today."

"If we're being honest, I'll have to tell you that I've wanted to come and see you too," Jane said slowly. "But unlike you, I'm not brave enough to actually do it. I've kept on telling myself that I don't deserve you, or your friendship. . . or any kind of your love for that matter."

"Well. . ." Lisbon trailed off, smiling slightly. "That may be true, but it hasn't stopped me from ever being your friend, and it definitely didn't stop me from falling in love with you."

Jane looked up at her, astounded at the words that were coming out of her mouth. Once upon a time ago, he had thought that she was falling in love with him. But every time he had even entertained notions like that, he had told himself that he was being an arrogant fool, and that Lisbon would never fall in love with somebody like him.

She grinned. "You're insanely gorgeous, I just couldn't help myself."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Is that all?"

Lisbon covered his hand with her's. "Well, what do you think?"

Jane offered her a cocky smile. "You really think I'm gorgeous?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're so vain, but yes I think that you're gorgeous. All the women in the world do."

"Good, because I think you're beautiful too," Jane said. "And I don't care about all the other women in the world, not as long as I have you in my life."

"You'll come back to the CBI then?" Lisbon asked hopefully.

Jane threaded his fingers through her's. "Lisbon, if you want me to come back to the CBI, then I'll come back."

"I want you to come back," Lisbon said, nodding her head to show him just how much she wanted him to come back and be in her life.

He took a deep breath and pursed his lips together, nodding his head slightly. "I want to come back too."

She leaned across the table and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Let's go then."

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Please tell me, honestly, what you thought of this story. I just felt the need to write something for this one-shot series because it's been a while and secondly, I'm suffering from writer's block where "Darkness Before the Dawn" is concerned, plus all the spoiler stories going around is completely and totally annoying me. I have no idea why, they just are.**

**Drop a review. And I promise, the next one to this series is on it's way. I already have the beginning written in my head. **

**Love,**

**Holly 5/1/2012_**


	8. Unmistaken Love

**Story 8 – Unmistaken Love**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Jisbon4ever, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, Fangirl4everithing, Lothiriel84, LAurore, Country2776, and Wldwmn for their reviews on my last story, which I thought was a serious mess. Thank you for always supporting me.**

**I want to give a special shout-out to my cousin, E, for giving me the title to this story. Have I mentioned how much that I adore him? **

**I want to wish my mother a Happy Birthday to my mother. Hope today is fantastic! I love you with all my heart.**

**Disclaimer: Here we go again, I own NOTHING! I only borrow the characters for fun.**

.

**". . . And don't forget, I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her."**

**Notting Hill_**

"I love you."

The words tumbled out of Lisbon's mouth before she could stop them. The cocktail of drugs the doctors were giving her had lowered her inhibitions and was making her say things that she normally wouldn't say when she was sober.

Jane blinked a couple of times, and then figured it was just the morphine talking. There was no way in a million years that Lisbon could have fallen for somebody like him. He took her hand and rubbed soothing circles into her knuckles until her breathing had evened. When he was certain that she was sleeping soundly, he slipped out of her hospital room and into the lobby where the rest of the team was waiting.

"How is she?" Van Pelt asked anxiously.

"She's fine," Jane assured her. "She's sleeping soundly now, thanks to the medicine that the doctors are giving her."

"That's good," Rigsby said weakly.

"Did she say anything?" Cho asked.

"Not about what happened with Red John earlier," Jane answered.

"What did she say?"

He looked over at Van Pelt and shrugged. "Nothing of consequence."

_Liar, _a voice in the back of his mind said, _she told you that she loved you. After all these years together, doesn't that mean anything to you?_

Jane pushed the thought down and smiled weakly at the team, thankful that they couldn't see right through him. . . thankful that it had only been him and Lisbon in the room. He had no idea what he would say to Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt if they had been in there with them.

He still wasn't sure if it was just the medicine talking, or if she had really meant it and the medication had given her courage to say things that she normally wouldn't have said otherwise.

"Van Pelt looks a little tired," Jane heard himself saying. "Cho, why don't you take her home? And Rigsby, Sarah must be worried sick about you. You should really go home to be with her and Benjamin."

"What about you?" Van Pelt asked.

"I'll stay here with Lisbon," Jane answered.

"You'll be okay by yourself?" Van Pelt checked.

Jane nodded. "It isn't like I haven't been alone before Van Pelt. Besides, I can tell that you need sleep. Let Cho take you home so you can get some rest. I'll call you if anything changes, okay?"

Van Pelt nodded and rose to her feet. Cho followed suit and put a protective arm around her shoulder as he led her to the elevators.

"You don't have to persuade me," Rigsby said getting to his feet and stretching as he got his phone out to text Sarah that he was on his way home. "See you tomorrow Jane."

"Goodnight Rigsby," Jane answered, looking down the hall at Lisbon's room.

Rigsby smiled when he saw where he was looking, he hoped with all of his heart that since Red John was finally out of the picture, they would stop being idiots and finally act out on the tension that that had been brewing since the day Patrick Jane had come into their lives. It had been a long time coming, and Heaven knew that they both deserved to be really and truly happy.

Fighting back the urge to smile wider, he bid Jane goodnight and trotted to the elevator holding his head just a little bit higher than before. He felt like a little boy at Christmas, Red John was gone and he was almost certain that Jane and Lisbon would be a couple before the month was over. Things couldn't have been better.

As the elevator doors rolled shot, he stole one more glance into the hospital waiting room and was extremely happy to see Jane making his way down the hallway and back to Lisbon's room. He hit the lobby button and crossed his fingers.

**.**

48 hours later, the doctors had given Lisbon a clean bill of health and had released her from the hospital. Jane drove her back to her apartment in silence, he had been with her the past two days, but they hadn't said much to each other since she had told him that she loved him. Their conversation had only been filled with nothing but small talk.

He pulled into her apartment parking lot and stopped the car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Walk me to my apartment?" Lisbon requested after a few seconds of silence.

Jane nodded in agreement and undid his seatbelt.

"Thank you," Lisbon said, undoing her own seatbelt and getting out of the car.

A few seconds later Jane joined her and they walked to her apartment together. Lisbon asked him if he wanted to stay for lunch, and he found himself agreeing to her request, even though all he could think about was her saying _I love you_. It was slowly starting to drive him crazy, especially since – for the first time in his life – he didn't know how to approach a subject. He was afraid to find out that she really loved him.

The truth was he didn't want her to love him.

"All I have is pasta," Lisbon said, breaking into his thoughts as she rummaged through her cabinets. "Is that okay?"

"Sure," Jane answered. "I guess anything you make will be fine."

Lisbon smiled happily as she grabbed a pot and filled it with water. He stepped behind her and lifted it from the sink, placing it on her stove.

"Thanks," She said, taking out a box of wagon wheels and placing it on the counter next to the stove.

"No problem," Jane answered.

"Would you like some tea?" Lisbon asked.

"Um. . . I'm good," he replied.

"Stop the presses, Patrick Jane is refusing _tea_! What is this world coming to?" She teased, filling her coffeepot with water.

Jane chuckled. "I'm just not in the mood for tea right now, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Lisbon said. "I just remembered that I ran out of your brand the last time that you visited. I'll put it on my shopping list."

"No!" Jane replied.

Lisbon looked startled. "No?"

"I'm thinking about taking a trip. . . now that Red John is gone, I have some things that I need to sort out."

Her face fell. "Oh. When do you think you'll come back?"

Jane hesitated before answering. "I don't."

"Is this about what I said the other night?"

It was Jane's turn to look startled. "You remember that?"

Lisbon nodded, her cheeks coloring slightly. She had spent a whole day berating herself for telling him in the way that she had, she had spent a whole day wishing that she had told him in another time and place. And then, she had woken up earlier that morning with Jane in a chair by her bed and she had convinced herself that everything would be okay. That maybe, because he was there, he felt the same way about her and he was waiting for the _right_ opportunity to tell her. . .

Jane cleared his throat and Lisbon shook her thoughts away, forcing herself to smile at him.

"I didn't mean to say it right then and there," she said. "It came out before I could stop it."

"It was probably the medication," Jane replied, making excuses for her because she was clearly embarrassed about what had happened that late night in the hospital.

"Yeah," Lisbon agreed, going to her refrigerator and fishing out a carton of mushrooms. She got a skillet out and put a little bit of butter on the bottom, watching the heat melt it away before she dumped the mushrooms into it and stirred them up.

"You shouldn't love me," he said quietly.

"Why?" She whispered, whirling around and looking at him. "Why _shouldn't_ I love you?"

"I'm not good enough for you," Jane replied. "Look at me Lisbon! I'm a broken, soulless man with nothing to offer you. I can't even give you my heart, it's so damaged that it barely beats anymore. You deserve somebody who could love you wholly and completely. You need somebody who would kowtow to your every whim and worship the ground that you walk on. I can't do any of that for you—"

"You think you're not good enough for me?" Lisbon asked, taking a step towards him. "Look at _me_ Patrick! I'm damaged too. . . I'm not even sure that I can love you fully. I'm always going to be afraid that if I give myself to you completely, then you're going to leave and take my heart with you."

Jane hesitated, his heart breaking just a little bit at her words. But he had to make her see that they weren't any good for each other, that starting a relationship would be a complete and utter disaster from start to finish.

"We can't," he said desperately. "Yes, we have a past and that's exactly the reason that we can't get together, because our pasts are tied together because of tragedy."

Lisbon took a deep breath and turned back to her mushrooms, stirring them so they wouldn't burn. When she turned back to him, she had collected her thoughts enough that she knew what she wanted to say to him next.

"All of that may be true," she said. "But none of it matters, you know why? Because when I look at you, all of the things in our separate pasts, and our pasts together don't matter anymore. Because at the end of the day I'm just a girl asking a boy that she loves with all of her heart, to love her in return."

If real life was a movie, Jane would have taken her in his arms and kissed her until they both saw stars and their knees felt like Jell-o. But this was real life, and he still couldn't bring himself to even allow himself to even think that she'd be able to love somebody like him.

Lisbon turned the stove off, dropping the spatula in the pan of cooked mushrooms, and then she came over to him and brushed a kiss as gentle as a butterfly wing on his cheek. Time stood still and his heart stopped beating for second, he hadn't felt anything like that since Angela's goodbye kiss the morning before she had died.

"Lisbon. . ."

"Don't say anything," she requested as she turned away from him and watched the lid on the pot of water shake violently, a sign that the water was ready for the pasta. "Are you still staying for lunch? Or do you just want to go?"

"Maybe I should just go," Jane said.

Lisbon took a deep breath and pursed her lips together. "Okay."

_What are you doing? _A small voice in the back of Jane's head asked. _You have a good woman there who loves you and wants to be with you in spite of everything that you've put her through. If you walk out of here now, who knows if she'll take you back. . ._

"Lisbon. . ." He said again. "Lisbon, I'll. . . I'll see you later."

She looked speechless, and then she nodded. "Okay, 'bye Jane."

He turned around and left her apartment without another word. Lisbon turned off the water and slid down the stove, burying her face in her hands and taking a deep breath as she tried to convince herself that it was finally over between her and Jane.

**.**

_Fourteen Days Later_

"We have time for one final question," Brenda Shettrick said, addressing the news people that had gathered around the courthouse after Lisbon had wrapped up a huge case that involved the death of a very prominent judge in California.

"I have one," a voice said.

Brenda's eyes narrowed when she realized the man who had spoken was Patrick Jane. "I'm sorry, but this is for the _real_ press. I don't need you to make a mockery out of this press conference."

Lisbon looked out in the crowd at the people and then glanced at Brenda, her face lit up into a smile.

"If you don't mind," she whispered. "I would like to take this question."

Brenda rolled her eyes. "Fine, two minutes."

"Agent Lisbon," Jane said. "My newspaper is interested to know if you would take back the man you loved after he had made a horrible mistake."

"Well. . ." Lisbon trailed off and smiled at him. "If I loved him enough, I might have to take him back."

"Do you?" Jane asked.

"Do I what?"

"Do you love him enough?" He clarified.

"I do," Lisbon replied.

"Excellent, because I'm pretty sure that he loves you too."

"Really?" She asked hopefully, her eyes were begging him not to hurt her again.

"Really," he answered.

"Well," Lisbon said, staring straight at him. "One of the conditions that I have in taking him back is that he tells me straight-up that he loves me."

"I love you," Jane whispered.

"I love you too," she replied as she walked down the stairs and towards him, stopping only because they were blocked by the low, metal barriers that had been setup to keep the press at bay.

He reached out and framed her face with his hands; Lisbon's forgiving spirit had stunned him into silence. One look into her eyes and he knew that she didn't mind his loss for words, that there was so many other things that she would rather be doing with him then just talking.

His lips found her's and it only took her a moment to wrap her arms around his neck while she reciprocated the kiss sweetly. When they pulled away for want of air, he pulled her into a crushing hug.

"I love you," he said again.

"And I love you," she replied, smiling up at him before kissing him again.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Yes, I stole some stuff from "Notting Hill". . . sue me, I HAVE NO SHAME! It's FUN to put your favorite characters into scenes from movies just because you can. **

**If you feel like you want to, drop a review and tell me what you thought about this little piece. Because I like hearing your thoughts about what I've written, PLEASE give me CONSTRUCTIVE criticism if you feel the need to critique my work. I don't really want to hear about what you don't like, because I write for myself.**

**Okay. . . that's all for now. Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 5/9/2012_**


	9. Come Away With Me

**Story 9 – Come Away With Me**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**.**

**Summary:**

"**You could come with me," Jane said. A story in where Jane tries to get Lisbon to go on a trip with him. For my sister and my best friend, Hannah.**

**Shout-outs: ****Steph B, Wldwmn, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, and Totorsg for reviewing chapter 7. Keep the faith guys.**

**This story is for my beautiful (first) baby sister, you are the sister that I prayed for, God heard my prayers and answered them with you. You are one of my kindred spirits, and I don't know what I would do without you. You are the macaroni to my cheese (literally). And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart. I carry your heart; I carry it in my heart. Happy birthday dearest! **

**Author's Note:**

**As you can see, this story is dedicated to my (first) baby sister. It's her birthday, and the **_**Adjustment Bureau**_** is one of her favorite movies while Jane and Lisbon is (like mine) her absolute favorite pairing. So, I thought it would be cool if I added them both together. Here's the first one. . . I REALLY hope you enjoy it. The title, by the way, was taken from my favorite Nora Jones song "Come Away With Me". **

**.**

"**You can come with me, and I don't know what's on the other side, but I'd know you'd be next to me. And that's all I wanted since the minute I met you."**

**The Adjustment Bureau_**

"You could come with me," Jane suggested tentatively, leaning against Lisbon's desk and looking at her hopefully.

"We've been through this Jane," Lisbon replied. "I _can't_ go with you, I have a life here. . . I just can't drop everything to follow you to go who knows where."

"It isn't like I'm going away forever," Jane said. "I'm only going away for a few weeks, to clear my mind and regroup. I think that everybody on the team should do it."

Lisbon sighed, getting away from it all, with _Patrick Jane_ of all people, did sound appealing. But she couldn't just abandon her job, or her team. She didn't have the luxury of getting to act like a child and escape a hectic world. The best she could do was wish her friend luck and hope that he came back completely refreshed and ready to face reality again.

And that's just what she did.

**.**

"Are you sure that you don't want to come with me?" Jane asked a couple of days later as they ate lunch at their favorite café. "It'll be fun."

Lisbon smiled and took a sip of her iced tea, shaking her head slightly. "Fun? I'm beginning to think that you just want me to come along to occupy you when you get bored doing whatever it is that you're doing."

"Or, _maybe_, I just like being with you," he replied, almost shyly.

She blushed, a statement like that made it incredibly hard for her to reject his offer. But she had to stand firm, she couldn't just go and give into every request or demand that Jane made of her. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"Maybe next time, okay Jane?"

She had to look away so she wouldn't be effected by the disappointed look on his face.

**.**

"It'll just be the two of us. . . no worries, no hassles, no work," Jane said the next day as they staked out a suspect's house. "We could do things that friends are supposed to do without having to worry about what's going to come up next in our case—"

"No means _no_ Jane," Lisbon said with a grin as she handed her iPhone off to him. "It's your turn in _Words With Friends_."

Jane sighed and took the device, putting down tiles without even looking at them. "Am I going to have to get down on my knees and beg you to come with me?"

"Begging won't get you anywhere my friend," Lisbon replied as she took her phone back from him and sighed when she saw that he had won the game. She tossed it on the console and pursed her lips together, trying to think of something to say, but unable to say them because she was afraid that they would be rejected. She took a deep breath and smiled at him. "If it's any consolation, I will miss you while you're away."

"Then you should come with me," Jane answered, grinning at her cheekily. "You can't miss me if we're together."

"Jane—"

He shook his head. "I know, you don't have to say it again. You're not coming with me."

"No," Lisbon answered, offering him a smile. "But I'll be here when you get back."

**.**

Even though she kept saying no, he continued to ask her to go with him every opportunity that he got. He knew that he was wearing her out (and that is _out_ not _down_) with his nagging, but that didn't stop him from asking her. He hoped that his persistence would pay off before he left and that she would eventually say yes and join him.

He stood in her office door, watching her fill out paperwork for their latest case. She looked up and caught him looking at her. She smiled and instead of shooing him away, she put down her pen and motioned for him to come in.

He pushed the door open and took the seat across from her.

"So. . ." he began tentatively.

"So," she echoed, leaning on her desk and looking at him, her eyes sparkling. "Tomorrow's the big day! You're finally leaving for your big vacation. Are you excited?"

"Well. . ." Jane began.

Lisbon held up her hand. "Don't say it Jane!"

Jane ignored her plea and said it anyways. "I'd be more excited if you decided that you wanted to come with me."

She sighed. "We've been through this Jane! I _cannot_ just drop everything and go away with you! Why do you keep asking me to go with you anyways?"

"Because I like being with you," Jane answered simply. "And because I'm never sure of what's going to happen next, but when you're with me that's all that matters. . . I think that it's all that mattered since the day that I met you."

Lisbon's heart stopped for a second, and when it resumed beating it was in her throat. "Oh Jane—"

"If you don't come with me, I'm just going to cancel my trip and stay here so I can be with you."

"I don't want you to cancel your trip!" Lisbon said quickly. "I mean, it's _Europe_—"

"I've been to Europe more than once already," Jane replied, waving her comment off. "And if you're so concerned with me canceling my trip, you should just come with me."

Lisbon shook her head; it would be so easy to give in and to say yes to him. Especially with the way that he was looking at her, his eyes were pleading mixed with a boyish hopefulness. She wished that she could resist him, say no and be done with it. But things with Patrick Jane had never been that simple, from day one there was something about him that had gotten under her skin, and made it impossible to say no. . . even after she had already said it to him.

The words were out before she could stop them.

"I'm coming with you."

Jane's face lit up and he reached across the desk to squeeze her hands. "We're going to have such a good time together; I promise that you won't be disappointed!"

"You're going to have to put your trip off for a couple more days," Lisbon said cautiously. "I have to fill out paperwork for vacation time, and I have to see that my passport is in order—"

"Already done," Jane replied. "I knew that you'd come around eventually, so I took the liberty of doing all those things for you."

"And my clothes?" Lisbon asked, already knowing the answer.

"Van Pelt's taking care of that as we speak," he answered. "I hope you don't mind, but I also picked up some things for you to wear. I didn't think that you'd want to go around Europe in your work clothes, and I wasn't sure what you had at home for when you weren't working."

"You sure went to a lot of trouble for somebody who was so adamant about not going," Lisbon said, her lips twitching.

"I already told you Lisbon, I knew that you'd come around eventually," Jane responded, squeezing her hands. "You've never let me down before, and I never thought for a second that you'd let me down now."

Lisbon opened her mouth to reply, but Jane leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips to silence her. When he pulled away, she just looked at him with wide eyes, her cheeks coloring slightly.

"What was that for?" She asked breathlessly.

"Just a thank you for everything that you've done for me so far," Jane answered. "And I was trying to get you to shut up a little bit."

If she had been thinking clearly, she would have thrown something at him for making a comment like that. But his kiss, even though it had been just a whisper of a caress, had muddled everything up and she couldn't make head or tails of her scattered thoughts. She had imagined him kissing her a dozen times, but hadn't ever been able to prepare herself for it actually happening. She was already dreading and looking forward to the next time he kissed her, when hopefully it would be an actual kiss with his arms around her waist and her arms around his neck.

He smiled at her. "You okay?"

She smiled in return. "I've never been better."

"Good," Jane said, giving her hands one final squeeze. "Until tomorrow then."

"Until tomorrow," Lisbon echoed, plucking up the courage to squeeze his hands in return.

She couldn't wait to see what tomorrow held for them, she knew that whatever it is would be beautiful.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Again, I really hope you enjoyed this story. I know that it has an open-ending and it leaves stuff for a sequel (which, I may or may not write. . . it depends on if I get a good enough idea to write it or not.) If you liked this, leave a review and tell me.**

**And in case you missed it, I have a Twitter account STRICLY for my fan fiction. You can follow me at BEyesParker22, if you do, I can promise you all sorts of good stuff from me in the way of our OTP.**

**Until next the next "Quote" story (or before that)!**

**Love,**

**Holly 5/23/2012_**


	10. Everything's Fine

**Story 10 – Everything's Fine**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-outs: Nicklecreek, Agathancy98, Totorsg, TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, Wldwmn, LAurore, LizfromItaly, and ShellGrad**

**This story is for my INCREDIBLE brother, Andrew. He's been begging me to write a Jane/Lisbon-"Beauty & the Beast" story for quite some time now. It's something I've totally put off, but he asked me to do it again Sunday night, and today I thought. . . "What the heck? He's SO AMAZING, that he deserves it!" So, for you my dearest (and only) brother). . . please, ENJOY!**

**P.S**

**This one-shot is to hold him over until I can get to a multi-chapter kind of, sort of in the "Beauty & the Beast" world. . . which is what he really wants me to write. It's on a list of stories that I'm going to write over the summer. But that's all I'm saying! Oh! And stay tuned for whenever I write and post it. **

**.**

"**Don't talk like that. You'll be all right. We're together now. Everything's going to be fine, you'll see."**

**Beauty & the ****Beast_**

"This is all of my fault," Jane said as he paced around the bullpen.

"No it's not," Van Pelt assured him as she brought him a cup of tea and tried to get him to sit down on his couch.

"Yes it is," he replied, sitting down and burying his head in his hands, ignoring the drink the red head was trying to shove at him. "We started to get close. . . and Red John always takes the people that I get close to."

Van Pelt sighed and wished that Lisbon was there with him instead of her, she always knew exactly what to do – exactly what to _say_ – to comfort him. She was the only one that he would really listen to, the rest of them were just there. But Lisbon wasn't there at the moment. She had been taken by Red John, and the consultant was at his wit's end worrying about her.

He was clutching his cell phone like his life depended on it, waiting for another text to come in from the serial killer. Van Pelt knew that he wouldn't rest easy until he got a shred of news about Lisbon. She just wished there was a way to make it happen sooner than later. . . for everybody on the team's sake.

They didn't need to deal with the worry, and they definitely didn't need to deal with an actual Jane breakdown. She took a sip of Jane's tea and prayed for a miracle.

She woke up a few hours later, with the empty cup of tea lying in her lap, tension in her neck, and her head resting on the arm of Jane's couch. She couldn't even remember falling asleep; she glanced up to see Jane staring into space, his grip on his cell phone had slackened, and he looked like he had aged ten years in the course of three hours.

She had a sudden twinge of guilt for falling asleep on him when he needed her the most.

"Jane?" Van Pelt whispered.

"You should get some more sleep," he replied, the tone of his voice was hollow and far away.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, suddenly panicked. "You haven't heard anything about Lisbon yet, have you?"

"No," he replied, sighing. "Not yet. But you know what they say, no news is good news."

Van Pelt knew that he didn't honestly believe what he was saying for a second.

"You're right," she said after a second, hoping to convey her faith in the statement. "No news _is_ good news. Have you heard anything from Cho and Rigsby yet?"

"Nothing," Jane answered, he looked at his cell phone like he wanted to chuck it across the room.

Van Pelt was about to ask if his phone was fully charged, when she decided against it. This _was_ Jane she was talking to, he wouldn't allow his phone to go uncharged. . . especially not when it was Lisbon's life on the line. She took a breath and checked her watch. It was almost six 'o clock in the morning. She got to her feet and stretched, glancing at Jane as she did.

"I'm going to make some coffee. Could I get you anything?"

"I'm good," Jane answered.

"Are you sure? You really should try and keep your strength up, you won't be any help to Lisbon not eating or drinking anything—"

"I said I'm _good_," he replied, looking at his cell phone again, this time it was like he was trying to will it to ring with his mind.

"Okay," Van Pelt answered, taking another look at him before she went to the break room to make her coffee.

"Maybe we should get out of here," she suggested hours later. "Hanging around here and waiting for a phone call isn't going to do Lisbon any good—"

Jane shook his head. "I just want to wait here."

Van Pelt was about to argue when her cell phone rang. She picked it up without even glancing at it and was almost disappointed when she heard Rigsby's voice on the other end. She was even more disappointed when she heard his news, they had lost the signal from Lisbon's cell phone which had resulted in a dead end. They were coming back to the CBI though to pick up the search from there.

After placing an order for food, Van Pelt hung up and tried once again to assure Jane that everything would turn out fine in the end, even though she was starting to find it hard to believe herself.

It was almost midnight when Jane's cell phone rang. He answered it before it rang a second time, relief washing over his face when he heard the voice on the other end.

"I'll be right there," he promised. "Where are you? I'm on my way. . . just stay on the phone with me until I get there, okay? I'll be there soon."

"Do you need any of to come with you?" Rigsby asked as Jane passed him.

"Grace," Jane answered, grabbing a slip of paper and jotting something down. "I'll need her to drive the car, could you send an ambulance to this address?"

"Sure!" Rigsby replied, grabbing the piece of paper.

"I'll have Grace call you when we're almost there," Jane said, nodding at the younger agent to hurry up. "Don't do it a second before you hear from her though."

Rigsby agreed and went to find Cho to tell him that they had finally heard from Lisbon.

**.**

Jane was out of the car before it had come to a stop, and was dashing up the driveway as fast as he could run. He tore through the open door and shouted Lisbon's name urgently.

"I'm up here!" She called weakly.

Jane bolted up the stairs and stopped short when he saw her slumped across a wall, Red John's corpse laying just inches away from where she was sitting.

"You're okay," he breathed in relief.

"I told you I was fine," she answered, trying to smile at him as she looked at Red John before wincing in pain, her hand flying to her abdomen. "I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to kill him—"

Jane's glanced at Red John and then fell on his knees, gathering Lisbon up in his arms, the sound of sirens were wailing somewhere in the close distance.

"Don't be sorry. . ." he whispered, soothing her hair away from her face and pulling her closer. "Don't think for a second that this is your fault. If it's anybody's fault, then it's mine. . . if we had never met—"

"Don't talk like that!" She ordered. "I'm a little worse for the wear, but everything's going to be okay—"

"Jane? Lisbon?" Van Pelt called, bursting into the house. "The paramedics are here!"

"We're up here," Jane replied as a handful of paramedics made their way up the stairs, he relinquished Lisbon to them without a word, but followed close behind, when they asked what their relationship was, he lied because he didn't want her to be alone on the ambulance ride. He held her hand the whole entire time, even after she had fallen asleep from the sedative they had given her.

All the while, he was planning his escape in the back of his mind.

**.**

"You're still here," she said when she was fully focused two days later. "I thought for sure that you'd be halfway across the country by now."

"I wanted to say goodbye first," Jane answered. "And I wanted to thank you for everything that you did for me while I was on your team. Your friendship. . . everything means so much to me."

"Then why are you going?" Lisbon asked.

"Everything. . . everybody I touch gets hurt," he said. "Or they die."

"Don't talk like that! I'm not dead, I'm _here_! And I was hurt, but I'm healing now! But we're together now!" Lisbon insisted. "And you have no reason to go away. I can't promise I won't get hurt, but if I do it won't be your fault if I do. And Red John's gone so;_ he_ won't be touching me ever again. I promise Jane, everything's going to be okay. It won't be easy, but it'll be okay. I'll make sure that it'll be okay—"

"You're just one person, you can't promise that."

She reached for his hands and held them firmly with her's. "I can try. Please stay."

Jane looked at her pleading eyes, the way her chin was set in firm determination. And he began to wonder how serious his plan to run really was. In the back of his mind he had always known that he had so much to run away from. A small voice in the back of his mind told him that was probably the reason he had stayed until Lisbon was feeling better. There was this part of him that had always known she would try to talk him out of going. . . and he owed her that much.

He looked at their intertwined fingers and said, "I still have a lot of stuff to work out."

"I know," she replied, smiling but at him. "But I'll help you. . . just like I've always done."

"There might be times that I won't want your help," he told her, running his free hand along one of her knuckles.

"I know," Lisbon said, reaching out a hand to touch his face. "But I'll still be there, waiting for you patiently just as I've always done."

"I know," Jane whispered closing his eyes as she gently stroked his cheek. "There still might be times that I wished we never met."

"You're not making a very convincing case," Lisbon told him. "I've dealt with all of this for ten years, I'm not afraid. No matter what happens, I'm not going to run away."

"I know you aren't, it's one of the things that I—" he started to say as he opened his eyes and looking at her. He wanted the courage to say what was really feeling. . . what he was really thinking in that moment. He knew that she wouldn't shut him up if he said it, but still to be able to actually say it out loud was a new concept for him. And he was scared.

"It's one of the reasons you what?" She asked, her voice encouraging.

"I was just going to say that it's one of the reasons that I love you," Jane answered her slowly, surprised that his voice was quivering slightly.

"You love me?" Lisbon looked so hopeful, just like she had the afternoon after he had blurted out _love you_. He didn't want to disappoint her again.

"Yes," he said. It felt so good to finally be able to say it aloud. "I love you Lisbon. . . for what you've been to me, for what you are to me, and for what you're going to be to me—"

"I love you too," she said breathlessly.

Obviously, he had known that she felt the same way, he had known it the moment that she had fallen in love with him. But it was still good to hear it actually coming from her mouth.

He looked at her, so small and pale in her hospital gown, she was still his beautiful savior. The one that had broken the awful spell that Red John had cast on his heart. As he leaned into kiss her, another argument to why he should go away and leave her alone forever tried to crowd its way into his thoughts. He wouldn't allow himself to entertain thoughts about his past, or who he was before her.

Because Lisbon was right, everything was going to be fine; all that mattered was that they were together now.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**I don't want to try and make you give me positive reviews, because I want HONEST opinions about my story. But this honestly isn't my favorite story that I've written, although I DO like the ending. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought.**

**Oh! And random fact, this was inspired by the quote from "Beauty & the Beast", but I wrote it to "Farewell" from the Pocahontas soundtrack. . . and some other random Disney instrumental tracks. I don't know why I felt the need to share that. . .**

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 6/5/2012_ **


	11. Hole in the Heart

**Story 11 – Hole in the Heart**

**A Jane and Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-outs: TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme, Wldwmn, Leah, and Totorsg for reviewing "Everything's Fine". **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Jane and Lisbon, I just borrow them so I can make them do things that they aren't doing on the show. Mostly because it makes me happy to make them happy.**

**WARNING: This story is **_**WICKED **_**sad! Don't say I didn't warn you. If you can handle this, then by all means read on. If you can handle it but you might cry, please get some tissues before you read this. If you're really sensitive and can't handle this, please wait for story 12. I really wouldn't mind. . . really.**

**.**

"**He was like an angel, you know? I never knew life could be like that. He was the one thing I followed through in my life, the one thing I didn't give up on. I was good at loving him."**

**The ****Untamed Heart_**

"Teresa?" Van Pelt asked, letting herself into the house that Jane and Lisbon had moved into shortly after they had gotten married.

"I'm in here Grace!" Lisbon called from the bedroom.

Van Pelt sighed and dropped her keys on the table. She stopped in the threshold and looked in on Lisbon, who was lying curled up in the middle of her bed, wearing one of Jane's shirts.

"Hey."

"Hey," Lisbon replied, sitting up and reaching for a tissue. "What are you doing here? I thought that the kids had a recital at school tonight."

"They did, but we were worried about you when you didn't show up for dinner," Van Pelt answered. "So, Bob sent me to check on you. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Lisbon answered, sniffing slightly and dabbing at her eyes. "Well, actually. . . I was going through some of Jane's old things today, and I found the first origami frog that he ever made me. It was before you even joined the team, we had been working together for three days and he had done something to really make me angry. I was going to go and ask Minelli to reassign him to another team when I found the frog on my desk with _sorry_ written on it. I don't know why, but it prevented me from having him removed from my team.

Van Pelt smiled and entered the room, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "He knew even then how to get on your good side didn't he?"

Lisbon took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"It's okay to miss him, you know. We all do," Van Pelt told her. "We were having vanilla ice cream for dessert last night, and Chris asked when Uncle Patrick was going to come back from his trip and have ice cream with them again."

"When we were first married," Lisbon said slowly, "He would go to visit Angela and Charlotte's graves. I would worry about him because he'd be gone all day. Then, just when I was about to go out and look for him, he would waltz through the front door and laugh at me for worrying about him. Then he'd kiss me and assure me that he'd never leave me. I keep waiting for him to do that now, but he never does. . . and I hate him for not keeping his promise to me."

Van Pelt put a hand over Lisbon's and squeezed it gently. She had no idea what to say to her former boss, she had no idea what to do. Jane had been one who knew how to comfort her while everybody else had watched them and felt awkwardly out of place.

Lisbon released a breath and buried her face in her free hand as an uncontrollable sob bubbled up from somewhere deep inside of her.

"In my worst dreams, I was always the first to go, because I'm a cop and all," Lisbon said. "I never allowed myself to think that he'd go first. I couldn't imagine my life without him, from the day that we first met he made everything better. Even when he did something really stupid, or when things were really bad between us everything was okay because he was there, and I knew that everything would be fine."

Van Pelt bit her lip, shaking her head slightly to fight back tears of her own. Lisbon had been strong for her so many times that she felt like it was her turn to return the favor. She pulled her into her arms and ran her hand down her back, whispering soothing words into her ears like she did for her kids when they had the stomach flu or a they had had a nightmare.

When her cries had quieted, Van Pelt reached for a wad of tissues and gently dabbed the mascara and tears away from Lisbon's eyes.

"It's going to be okay," she promised.

"My head knows it," Lisbon said. "But I don't think that my heart has quite caught up with my head yet."

"It will," Van Pelt replied. "Take it from somebody who knows, it will."

Lisbon pulled away and gave her a serious look. "Oh Grace. . . I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Van Pelt said. "It was a long time ago, and our relationship was a lie. I think that hurt more than knowing that he was dead, and he wouldn't be coming back."

Lisbon nodded and took another tissue, laughing slightly as she blew her nose. "By this time next year, whoever owns Kleenex will be incredibly rich because of me."

Van Pelt smiled weakly and looked at her watch. "Well, I better get back now. . . I need to go and pick Bob and the kids up from the school. Will you be okay if I leave you alone?"

"Yeah," Lisbon answered. "The funeral's tomorrow and I still have to write Patrick's eulogy."

"Are you sure you're up to that?" Van Pelt asked. "It isn't too late to ask Wayne or Cho to do it for you."

"No," she replied, shaking her head adamantly. "I'm the one who has to do it. I don't mean this to be rude or anything, but I'm the only one who _really_ knew him."

"I understand," Van Pelt said, giving Lisbon a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow. You try and get some rest, okay?"

Lisbon nodded. "Goodnight Grace."

"Goodnight Teresa," Van Pelt replied, getting up and buttoning her coat up.

**.**

"His name was Patrick Jane, and he came into my life like a storm on a summer's day. It was totally unexpected, but at the same time it was totally refreshing," Lisbon said, looking out at the crowded church. She sighed and shuffled her papers, praying she could get through the next few minutes without crying. "Before he came into my life, I had given up on a lot of things. Then I met him, and suddenly giving up just didn't seem like an option anymore.

"He needed somebody, and there was this part of me – this _huge_ part of me – that wanted to be the one who was that somebody he needed. Apart from my job with the CBI, he was the one thing that I never ever gave up on. He was just what I needed, and I was good at loving him."

She stopped short and dabbed at the tears that were running down her cheeks before she made her way down the stairs and took her seat. She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath to compose herself, wishing with all of her heart that things were different.

**.**

She didn't have another great show of emotion until she was alone that night, lying in bed with all the lights out and clutching Jane's pillow to her chest, trying to breathe in his smell and hold it in for as long as possible while at the same time she got used to the loneliness that she had come to hate. She had to get used to the hole that was in her chest, and the fact that her heart was buried deep in the ground with a dead man.

She just prayed that the transition would be easy, and one day her heart would be able to beat again.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**I did warn you in the beginning that this story was sad, right? **

**I seriously thought about ending this story with Lisbon waking up in Jane's arms and the whole thing being a nightmare. But I literally cried over this story, and not just a little bit of tears but a lot of them. have an alternate ending for this story below****. because I really do hate angsty endings for my loves. They have it SO rough on the show, I like for them to be happy. For anybody (but especially for them) my favorite phrase is **_**and they lived happily ever after**_**.**

**Please tell me if you hated this and I should leave angst alone for the rest of my career as a Jane/Lisbon writer. . . because I will, if you request it.**

**Until Next Time!**

**Love,**

**Holly 6/6/2012_**

**P.S**

**I PROMISE! MY NEXT INSTALLMENT WILL BE HAPPIER!**

**2 P.S**

**I am still OBSESSED with "the Idea of Growing Old" by the Features. I am having a GREAT time doing the head bash to it, and screaming out the especially Jisbon lyrics. Totally random, I know. But after this story, we need a little light-heartedness. **

**Okay. . . I'm done now. Onto the alternate ending!**

* * *

><p><strong>Alternate Ending – "Hole in the Heart"<strong>

She stopped short and dabbed at the tears that were running down her cheeks before she made her way down the stairs and took her seat. She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath to compose herself, wishing with all of her heart that things were different.

**.**

"Reese," a voice whispered in her ear. "Reese, wake up!"

Lisbon forced herself to open her eyes and found herself looking up into the eyes of her husband, a worried expression on his face.

"It's you," she whimpered, pulling him down on top of her and holding onto him like her life depended on it.

"What's wrong Reese?" He asked into her neck. "You were tossing and turning, and crying out for me. Are you okay?"

_Don't cry Teresa_, she told herself. _Everything's fine, it was just a dream. He's right here, everything's okay._

But hermental pep talk didn't do her any good; she started to cry anyways, her body shaking softly under his as she tightened her grip on his waist, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Do you not want to talk about?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her, craning his neck so he could look into her eyes.

"You left me all alone," she accused, sniffing slightly.

"I left you?" He repeated. "No I didn't, I'm right here darling."

"You weren't though," Lisbon said. "You were gone, and I was all alone."

He reached down to smooth her hair from her face, and then he brushed his thumbs over her wet cheeks before kissing her softly.

"Well, I have some bad news for you sweetie," he said pulling away slightly and resting his forehead on her's.

"What's that?" She asked frowning slightly.

"I'm not going anywhere for a while, so you're stuck with me for a long time."

"I like the sound of that," Lisbon answered, closing her eyes as he started to kiss her again. She reveled in the sweetness of his touch, the taste of his toothpaste, and the way his lips felt moving over her's. Seconds earlier she'd been so sure that they would never be able to share moments like this ever again, she wanted to savor it for as long as possible.

He broke away for a second and as he stared down at her, she could see the intensity in his blue-green eyes.

"I love you," he said. "I love you so much."

"I love you too Patrick," Lisbon answered, reaching out to touch him as her eyes welled with fresh tears.

And then he was kissing her, making the nightmare disappear completely with his loving touch.

**_End_**


	12. First Date Mistakes

**Story 12 – First Date Mistakes**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: ****AngryLittlePrincess, lolly2222, Wldwmn, and TwilightLover-CarliseandEsme for reviewing "Hole in the Heart" even though it was incredibly angsty.**

**Warnings: This is pure, unadulterated, never-gonna-happen in a million years, fluffy story. The characterization might be awful, and my grammar is definitely unchecked because I wanted to have this up by tonight. So, no need to point out the obvious. . . I already know it. And, the story might not exactly fit the quote. . . but the quote inspired the story. So sue me.**

**Disclamier: I don't own anything. If I did, I wouldn't write fan fiction, I'd be writing episodes.**

**Dedication: This story is for Steelsimz, you know why I wrote this story for you. I hope this cheers you up, if only a little bit. And I hope that today and all the other days following today, is a better day for you.**

**.**

**"Swoon. I'll catch you."**

**The English Patient_**

_Of course_ their first date would be at a place like the Dive Bar, the whole atmosphere –from the setting to the musical selection the jukebox offered– screamed Patrick Jane. She was used to running and getting a beer from 'O Malley's after work was over, so the classy bar made her feel completely out of place.

She ran her hands down her high-waisted shorts and hoped the evening would come to an early close.

"Sorry it took so long, but the line was insane." Jane said as he handed her a fruity drink, before taking a sip of his Bloody Mary.

"It's fine," Lisbon replied with a sigh, toying with the toy umbrella in her glass.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked, studying her face quizzically, sensing her discomfort almost immediately.

"I'm okay," she lied, taking a large drink from her glass and avoiding his eyes.

He frowned and stirred his drink with the celery stick garnish. "Are you sure? You don't seem like you're having a very good time."

"We just got here," Lisbon said quickly, knowing he had probably put a lot of work into planning their evening and not wanting to spoil it for him. "I might need to give it a little bit of time."

Jane nodded and took another drink. "Okay."

Lisbon tapped her fingers on her glass and looked away as an awkward silence ensued, the song _Come Fly With Me_ and the noisy patrons were the only sounds between them. She looked back at Jane to find that he had disappeared again. She sighed, a slight wave of disappointment washing over her as thoughts of doubt started to flood her mind.

Maybe dating Jane wasn't the best idea in the world. She certainly didn't seem to belong to the world that he belonged to.

She pushed the thought away instantly, telling herself not to be ridiculous. She had never been one of the girls who told herself that she wasn't good enough for a boy. She certainly wasn't going to start doing it _now_.

Lisbon squared her shoulders and started to search for Jane She found him by the jukebox, scrolling through songs with a determined look on his face.

"Hey," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Did you forget about me or something?"

Jane looked embarrassed. "Of course I didn't forget about you. I could tell you're not having a good time though, so I thought that if I found a song and asked you to dance then you might enjoy yourself more."

Lisbon laughed. "I don't think you can dance here Patrick."

"So?" Jane shrugged. "I was going to ask you to dance anyways. Who cares what other people think? I wanted tonight to be special, because it is our first date and all."

"Aren't you romantic?" Lisbon said sarcastically.

"Swoon," Jane answered, his blue-green eyes twinkling. "I'll catch you."

"Did you really think I'd enjoy a loud, crowded bar?" Lisbon asked with a sigh as she took his free hand with her free one.

Jane's sigh echoed her own. "Well, I was hoping—"

"A place like this is for two people just starting to get and know each other," Lisbon told him. "It isn't for two people who've known each other for years and have realized they want to know each other in a more intimate setting."

"I know that," Jane admitted. "I was just. . . nervous—"

"Patrick Jane, _nervous_?" Lisbon teased. "Well, this is a first, excuse me a moment while I go and alert the newspapers."

"Stop it," Jane said, nudging her slightly with his shoulder.

Lisbon dragged him away from the jukebox and into a quiet corner away from the noise and the people. She looked up at him seriously. "Now tell me, why were you so nervous tonight? It's just me; it isn't like you have to impress me that much or anything."

Jane sighed. "I was nervous that you'd think I was boring if we did something every other couple that was familiar with each other did."

She laughed. "I've never found you boring Jane. Every second I spend with you is like an adventure."

"So you would have enjoyed it if I took you to an old drive-in theater that was showing old films all weekend long?"

"I would have liked it more than this," Lisbon replied, waving her arm around to emphasize her point. "Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful club, but I'm not a club kind of girl. I much prefer old movies and ice cream."

"So, would you mind if I called a do over on our date tonight?" Jane asked, smiling at her, knowing the answer already.

"No," she answered. "I'd love to go on do over date with you Patrick."

"Tomorrow night then," Jane said. "West Winds is showing Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"Will you buy candy and popcorn?" Lisbon asked.

"I'll buy you all the candy and popcorn that you want," Jane answered.

"Tomorrow night then. It's a date," Lisbon said, smiling at him. "Now come on, let's get out of here and go grab a late dinner somewhere quiet."

Jane nodded his agreement and plucked her glass from her hand, leaving it on a table with his own glass before grabbing her hand to lead her out of the nightclub and to his car. He opened the passenger side door for her, and waited until she got in and was buckled to close the door and get in the car.

He was pleased when Lisbon reached over and took his hand again, resting it in her lap while she held onto it loosely. She turned to look up at him and Jane's heart fluttered a little bit when she gave him an adoring smile. He had seen her look at him that way plenty of times before, but this was the first time he was actually supposed to see her looking at him that way.

Jane turned her hand over and slipped his fingers through her's, tightening his grip on them as he put the car into drive. He was so looking forward to their date the next day.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**When I first started writing this, it certainly wasn't what I expected to write. Honestly, I wrote as I went along. I hope that you guys enjoyed it either way.**

**Oh! And just a quick note, I'm going to start a new ongoing collection of stories that will be kind of, sort adjacent to this series. It'll be sequels to whatever stories that I've promised sequels to, or that I might think need a sequel at a later date. The first sequel up is for "Come Away With Me", followed by a sequel to this story. Be on the lookout for them. And please leave a review before you leave.**

**Love,**

**Holly, 6/19/2012_**


	13. Your Hands Are Cold

**Story 13 – Your Hands Are Cold **

**A Jane/Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, donnie123, AngryLittlePrincess, SteelSimz, Wldwmn, ShellGrad, and Lothlorien Aeterna for reviewing story 12 – "First Date Disasters". **

**Summary:**

"**I have something important to tell you. Something that I don't think can wait much longer."**

**Author's Note: **

**It was just a matter of time before I wrote a story to a Pride & Prejudice quote. It is one of my favorite movies. . . I do prefer the six hour version to the one with Matthew MacFayden and Keira Knightly , but I CANNOT deny the shivers and goose bumps that the lines **_**you have bewitched me**_** bring on. **

**Disclaimer: **

**I wasn't born when Jane Austen wrote Pride & Prejudice, so there's no way I could own that. I do own two copies of the book, the six hour version of the movie, and two P&P soundtracks, one from the six hour one, the other from the Keira Knightly version. As for the Mentalist, well. . . why would you even **_**think**_** I owned it?**

**.**

"**You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."**

**Pride & Prejudice (2005)_**

Lisbon unlocked her apartment door wearily and rubbed her neck as she put her keys in the dish on her entry table then turned a lamp on. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was take a shot of anything alcoholic, indulge in a long bubble bath, then slip into bed and pull the covers over her head.

Of course, like everything in her life, _nothing_ went the way that she planned for it to go.

The cause of every ounce of her stress was sitting on her living room couch, looking at her with a forlorn expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, the words slipping out before she even got a chance to stop them, completely overlooking the fact that he had probably picked her lock or bribed her super to get into her apartment. "Red John's finally gone. I thought for sure you'd be in some far off European country by now."

"No. . ." Jane answered. "No European countries. . . not right now at least, I need to sort some things out before I go."

"Oh," Lisbon said, looking down at her carpet and breathing out heavily.

"Are you okay?" Jane checked.

She looked up at him and gave him an assuring smile. "I'm fine. . . just a little tired. Today's been a long day."

"I'm probably ruining whatever plans you had for tonight."

"Not really," Lisbon answered. "All I was going to do was have a drink and then take a bath before I went to bed. . . I can do that later. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Just listen for a little bit," Jane answered. "I have something important to tell you. Something that I don't think can wait much longer."

**.**

After Jane had told her that he had something "important" to tell her, he had sent her off to take a bath and said that he'd make them something to eat while he waited for her. Fifteen minutes later, she had come downstairs to find her table fully set and dinner on it.

She must have given Jane a funny look, because he had merely shrugged and told her that he had a lot of nervous energy after their long day.

Their dinner conversation had been light, both of them carefully avoiding the subject of Red John and what had happened to him that day.

"What do you want to tell me?" Lisbon finally asked as she brushed a wet strand of hair out of her face and dragged the last bite of her omelet through the Sriracha sauce on her plate.

Jane shook his head. "Not yet."

Lisbon frowned, earlier he had pressed the urgency of telling her whatever it was that he wanted to tell her, and now he was avoiding the subject. She was beginning to think that he didn't really have anything to tell her at all, and he was just looking for an excuse to have her keep him around.

She didn't voice these thoughts to Jane though, she just watched silently as he began to clear away their dirty dishes, he disappeared into the kitchen and after a moment, she got up and followed him.

"Is this all a farce?" She asked, crossing her arms and looking at him almost sternly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jane answered, not looking at her as he rinsed the plates off under a low stream of water before placing them in the dishwasher.

"You're not only _pretending_ to be okay, are you?" Lisbon clarified. "About what happened today. . . about not being able to kill Red John yourself. You're really at peace about it. . . you won't leave me tonight and go do something stupid—"

Jane turned the water off and dried his hands off on a paper towel before coming over to her, grasping her shoulders, and looking into her eyes. "Lisbon, I'm fine I _promise_. The important thing is that Red John is finally gone and that he won't be able to hurt anybody anymore."

"But your revenge—"

"Revenge is for fools and mad man," Jane answered. "Didn't I say that once?"

"I thought that was just something you had said—"

"It was," Jane told her. "But I think if I say it to myself often enough now, I might actually be able to believe that it's true one day."

Lisbon couldn't help smiling. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," Jane answered. "Don't worry; I'm not going to do anything drastic. Well, I might do _something_ drastic. . . but nothing that you aren't used to, I promise."

She sighed. "I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. Now that thing you said you had something to tell me. . . something that couldn't wait much longer. What is it? You know you can tell me anything Jane—"

Jane let his arms fall to his sides and he shrugged. "I'm not sure how to say it exactly. . ."

Lisbon swallowed her laughter; she had never thought she'd live to see a day when Patrick Jane wouldn't know what to say or how to say it.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know how to say it," she said. "Just say it."

"Easy for you to say," Jane replied, smiling slightly.

"You've always been able to tell me everything without a problem before," Lisbon said. "Why is it so hard for you to do it this time?"

"Maybe because this time I'm going to tell you how you feel about me," Jane answered. "And since this isn't a movie, I have no idea how you're going to react."

"I don't know," Lisbon admitted. "But I don't know how you feel about me either."

"You must know though—"

"No." She shook her head. "I really don't. Tell me. . . please."

"I did though," Jane whispered. "Last year, before I shot you."

"It doesn't count," Lisbon answered. "It doesn't count because you acted like you didn't mean to say it later on. And you haven't mentioned it again since then—"

Jane took a deep breath. "Okay then, I'll just say it again if that's what you like. I love you Lisbon, and the reason that I couldn't bring myself to leave was because of you. I thought about leaving, but then I realized that Red John's gone now and I have nothing to be afraid of losing you anymore. You're safe now. . . and unless I do something stupid, you aren't going to go anywhere. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you—"

Lisbon grabbed his hands and placed them to her lips, cutting off his inconsistent flow of words. "Your hands are cold."

"What?" Jane asked lamely, vaguely remembering the words from a movie that he had seen a long time ago.

"I said that _your hands are cold_," Lisbon answered, smiling up at him before kissing them again. "And I love you too." She kissed them a third time. "And I think that I want to spend the rest of my life with you too."

"Really?" Jane asked, his eyes lighting up hopefully.

"Really _really_," Lisbon answered, kissing his fingers a fourth time. "That is, if you'll have me."

"Of course I'll have you," Jane told her, wiggling free of her grasp and wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. "The better question is will you have _me_?"

"You silly man," Lisbon said, laughing slightly as she raised her chin to meet his eyes. "Isn't that what I _just _said? I want _you_. . . all of you, for the rest of my life."

"I think that's doable," Jane told her before capturing her lips in a tender kiss. "It's quite doable, actually Agent."

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**I realized three things while writing this. . . all of my stories usually go the same way with Jane and Lisbon telling they love each other almost right after Red John is killed, Jane NEVER kills Red John, and Lisbon is WICKED happy that Jane is in love with her. She doesn't put up any resistance like she seems to do in other stories. These are things that I can't always help, I've tried to. . . but it just doesn't make me as happy as these stories seem to do. Besides, we could all use a little fluff in our lives these days.**

**Another thing I realized is, this story DOES NOT follow the quote exactly. But hey, Jane's charming and amazing. . . but I don't quite think **_**his **_**saying "you have bewitched me body and soul" would be the same as Mr. Darcy's saying it. I did opt to have Lisbon say what Lizzie said though. I couldn't resist, and it seemed to fit.**

**Anyways, I'll try not to neglect this series for as long as I did. I'm not making any promises though, the next time I could have a story for this is by Halloween time. And no, I'm not going to tell you what quote I chose for that particular story.**

**Feedback is love. And I love to hear what you guys are thinking. If you feel like it, click on the review button below. **

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 9/11/2012_**

**P.S **

**Is anybody else watching "Perception"? I am, and I'm totally blown away by how AWESOME it is! And actually, I have an idea for a Mentalist/Perception crossover rolling around in my mind. I just want to know that there are people out there who'd read it. **


	14. I Met You

**Story 14 – I Met You**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-outs: ****Special Agent Baker, Little-Firestar84, Totorsg, and Wldwmn for leaving reviews on story 13. I loved the feedback guys.**

**Author's Note I: **

**Happy October everybody! Hope this month is fabulous for you guys. This story is actually for the October challenge on Paint it Red. This month's challenge is "Amnesty. We got our pick from about a year's worth of challenges. I picked June's challenge, "3 little words that can change your life forever". It probably doesn't follow the challenge **_**that well**_**, but I did try, and that's important.**

**Warnings: **

**Does getting inspired by a movie that a lot of people probably didn't watch warrant a pop culture reference warning? And there are slight spoilers for the movie because I kind of borrowed from a scene. But I won't tell you where. . . just in case you ever decide to watch it.**

**Disclaimer: **

**Sadly, I don't own a thing. . . if I did, I'd be a ton richer than I am and be able to afford the tights that I need for church.**

**.**

"**I met you."**

**Larry Crowne_**

"Have you seen Jane anywhere?" Lisbon asked, coming out of her office one day a few weeks after they had finally caught Red John.

"Not since yesterday," Van Pelt replied, tugging at her necklace nervously. "He said that he was going to take some time off and get settled in his new place. He didn't think you'd mind much, he actually told me that you'd probably be glad to see the back of him for a while."

Lisbon frowned. "He didn't tell me that he was leaving though."

Van Pelt shrugged. "I guess he was afraid you'd try to force him to stay, or something. Besides, he's only taking a couple weeks off. It isn't like he's going away forever."

"Did-did he say anything else?" Lisbon asked tentatively.

"Yeah," the red head admitted reluctantly. "But he asked me not to say anything to you or Cho and Rigsby."

Lisbon's frown deepened, she couldn't believe that Jane had confided in Van Pelt but not in her. She almost felt cheated that he had shared something intimate with a woman other than her. She swallowed hard and tried not to let disappointment show on her face.

"But I didn't make any promises," Van Pelt continued, after seeing the poorly concealed emotions on her boss's face. "So, I _could_ tell you what he said. I could also give you his new address, if you'd like."

"I really couldn't ask you to betray his trust. . ." Lisbon said, but only half-heartedly.

Van Pelt got a pen and quickly jotted down something down. She handed it over to Lisbon with a school girl grin.

"He told me that he'd be back because being on this team changed his life," she said.

"Really?" Lisbon asked, not even bothering to conceal her shock this time. "Why'd he say that?"

Van Pelt shrugged. "He didn't."

"Oh. . ." Lisbon trailed off and looked down at the neon orange sticky note in her hand. She touched the adhesive backing and sighed thoughtfully. "I-I think I'm going to take the morning off, take a ride and clear my mind. . . maybe get some breakfast. I didn't really get a chance to eat this morning."

"Okay," Van Pelt said as she hid a knowing smile behind a sip of coffee. "I hope you have a good morning, I'll see you this afternoon."

"Thanks," Lisbon replied. "You too."

**.**

"You're here!" Jane said, slightly surprised to see her standing on his porch at nine 'o clock on a work day. She never missed work, not even when she was really sick. "Shouldn't you be at the office, catching the bad guys and closing cases?"

"I should be," Lisbon answered. "But I wanted to talk to you. You-you left without saying anything."

"I told Van Pelt to tell you that I was coming back," Jane answered defensively. "I just needed one week. Things have been so hectic lately, I needed a mental break. Besides, I had to move in this week, or my landlord was going to give the apartment to somebody else."

"You could have told me though," Lisbon said, trying not to sound hurt.

"And have volunteer to drop everything so you could help me out?" Jane replied. "I didn't want to do that to you."

"I wouldn't have minded," Lisbon told him.

"I'm sure," Jane answered evenly, folding his arms across his chest and shuffling his bare feet. "So, my dear what brings you here on this fine morning? I don't think you stopped by to chat about the weather."

"No," Lisbon replied, swallowing hard and looking at her feet. "I just-just wanted to see you and make sure everything really was okay."

"As you can see it is," he told her. "I'm still sober and sane, I promise."

"How do I know that for real?" Lisbon asked. "You could be using your bio feedback tricks to lull me into a false sense of security."

"Lisbon, I promise that if there was something wrong with me, I wouldn't have even bothered to opened the door when I saw it was you. Because for some reason you can see right through me and tell when there really is something wrong with me."

"Oh."

"So, tell me why you stopped by to see me today," Jane said, leaning against his doorframe and studying her carefully.

"Van Pelt told me that you said being on my team changed your life," Lisbon replied, looking at him seriously.

Jane looked slightly surprised at the betrayed confidence. "She wasn't supposed to say anything to you about that."

"She told me that she hadn't made any promises _not _to say anything," Lisbon said. She lowered her voice and looked away from him again. "What does it mean exactly Jane? That being on my team specifically changed your life?"

"Well," Jane said as he came over and took her hand in his while lifting her chin so they were looking into each other's eyes. "I met you."

Lisbon smiled, her heart stopping just slightly at his admission, before she could stop herself, she was on her tip-toes and pressing her lips against his. She knew it was probably too soon for it to happen, but she didn't care. She had wanted some sort of physical contact with the man in front of her for longer than she could remember.

It took him a while to register what was happening; he couldn't believe that Lisbon was actually kissing him. Not that he minded her kissing him, but up until now it was something that he had only dared to dream about.

He sighed inwardly before he let go of her chin and hand so he could wrap his arms around her and give her the kind of kiss that she deserved.

After a few minutes of urgent kissing, he pulled away because of his desperate need for air. He took a deep breath and looked down at her wordlessly.

"What?" She asked as she smoothed one of his unruly curls away from his forehead, her cheeks flushed slightly by their excursion.

There was an _I love you _right on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to say it quite yet.

"Would you like some breakfast?" He asked instead as he tentatively ran a hand through her hair. "I was just about to make French toast before you knocked."

"I would love some breakfast," Lisbon answered; smiling at him as she allowed him to take her hand again and he lead her into his apartment.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**I didn't expect to have anything ready for this series so soon, I was fooling around with a Summer/Cho one-shot, but they never bring in a huge amount of readers. So, I decided that the next story I was planning on posting for this series was my Halloween one. I have notes written for it and everything. But I'm not giving anything away for it.**

**Sorry.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this story. I've had a portion of it written since June. But I didn't get a chance to finish it because I missed the deadline for the PIR Challenge, and I didn't see any point in finishing it because the whole reason I had chosen the quote was for that specific challenge. Drop a review and tell me what you thought. Reviews are love.**

**And I will be updating "the Writer and the Consultant" soon, I started working on part II this morning. Although, it'll probably be chapter 2 by the time I'm done writing it.**

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 10/1/2012_ **


	15. Scarlet Fears

**Story 15 – Scarlet Fears**

**A Jane/Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary:**

**Jane and Lisbon talk about what really scares them on Halloween.**

**Rated: T**

**Warnings: Spoiler-free, very light sexual content (like kissing light).**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing where the Mentalist is concerned. Except for a few ideas for fan fiction and the first three seasons of the show, plus I'm about to purchase the fourth one for my brother's Christmas gift. **

**Author's Note:**

**This summer, I had started to post the final installment to what has become one of my most favorite and reviewed stories to date (A Boyfriend For Christmas). It didn't really get a good reception, so I stopped posting it. But I'm ready to dip my toes back into the universe I created and finish it out. I'm not saying this is the last part in the series, because one of my little sisters told me when I was telling her about this being the final installment in the "Boyfriend" series that I should just end it on Christmas, since that's when it all started. So, this is REALLY the third to last story in the series. No, I am never going to revisit "Life's Gonna Be Beautiful", because to be honest, it was a pretty weak story. But I didn't want to just leave Jane/Lisbon suspended in this universe. So, I decided the perfect way to close out the story would be three one-shots revolving around the upcoming holidays.**

**If you're new to the series and you have the time, feel free to read this story's predecessors: "A Boyfriend for Christmas", "The Second Time Around" "I Can't Stop Loving You" (part of my Valentine's day series: J'etime) and "A Few Things In Between". **

**Okay, that's all for now. Onto the story!**

**.**

"**It's the scariest day of the year. Yet the only thing that scares me is that we might never have met."**

**Autumn in New York_**

"You seem a little lost tonight," Teresa Lisbon said, putting the bowl of popcorn that she had made down on the coffee table and joining her husband on their couch.

"Mmmh?" Patrick Jane asked, turning to look at her quizzical expression. "Oh, I was just thinking."

"Do you want to tell me what you're thinking about?" Lisbon inquired as she powered up the television and switched from the news network to the horror movie marathon that was playing on TCM.

"Not really," Jane replied, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl and tossing it into his mouth with all the ease of a seasoned showman. He saw the concerned look on her face and pulled her so close that she was almost sitting in his lap. "Just enjoy the movie and don't worry about me darling, I promise that I'm fine."

Lisbon sighed and adjusted herself so she was resting a little more comfortably in his arms; she rested her head on his chest and tried to stop musing over what Jane could possibly be thinking about. Knowing him the way she did, he could have been thinking about anything from the case they had closed earlier, or their impending parenthood.

She turned her attention to the television and forced herself to concentrate on the 1932 version of the Mummy while Jane alternated between unwrapping mini-candy bars that were leftover from the trick-or-treaters earlier that evening and braiding little strands of her hair, before letting it unravel and doing it again.

The gentle touch of his fingers on her scalp relaxed her to the point where she had almost fallen asleep, but she forced herself to stay awake, reveling in the domesticity that, eleven months earlier, she never thought she'd get the opportunity to share with a person.

For a brief moment, she allowed herself to entertain the notion of what would have happened if they had never happened. A sense of dread swept over her and she stiffened slightly as her life _without _Patrick Jane danced before her eyes, it was a sorry, bleak, lonely existence. And even though she knew she would never have to face a future like that, it scared her to think that it could have happened.

She closed her eyes and breathed a prayer of thanks that it _hadn't _turned out that way and that Jane had come storming into her life in the way that he had. She was so much better off because of it.

**.**

"You're still thinking," Lisbon observed as they lay in bed together even later that night. "Do you want to tell me what has captured your attention so tightly?"

Jane's fingers rubbed lazy shapes into her expanding stomach as he stared at the ceiling. He sighed and finally gave into her request to share his thoughts with her. "I was just thinking about how today is Halloween, the scariest day of the year, but the thing that scares me the most is that you might never have gotten the Red John case, and I might never have met you."

"Me too," Lisbon admitted quietly, moving her hand up to her stomach and catching his roaming fingers, tangling them with her own.

"If we had never met. . ." Jane trailed off.

"Shhhh," Lisbon soothed, reading his thoughts immediately. "As easy as it is to imagine what could have happened if we had never met, we don't have to do that because we _did_ meet."

"You saved me," he whispered.

"And _you_ saved _me_," she answered, propping herself up on her side and looking down at him.

Jane smiled up at her and lifted his free hand to her hair, lacing his fingers through the dark tresses. "I think we should kiss Mrs. Jane."

"Oh you do, do you?" Lisbon asked, her voice growing a little husky as she leaned down over him, her lips barely grazing his as their noses touched.

He nodded and brought her back down on their bed, he stared down at her for a second and then leaned down to kiss her when she nodded, her green eyes filled with love all for him. She untangled her fingers from his and wrapped both her arms around his neck as he kissed her, chasing away the last of both their _what ifs_ and the fears of _what_ _could have beens_.

"I love you," he whispered softly, leaning on her lightly so he wouldn't put any pressure on the little life growing between them.

"I love you too," she replied, her eyes fluttering shut as she joined their lips together again, getting lost in the sweet sensation of his taste and the way his mouth felt on her's.. She had kissed him dozens of times in the past eleven months, but the way she felt when she did it was a feeling that never got old. She could have spent the rest of her life just kissing him and nothing else.

"Feeling better?" Lisbon asked after a few minutes had passed.

"Much," Jane answered, smiling at her as he rolled off her and onto his side. "What about _you_? Are _you_ feeling better?"

"I am," Lisbon said, returning his smile with a warm one of her own. "Because we met, we're together, your my husband, I'm your wife. . . we're having a baby, and Red John is finally out of the picture. And because of that, we don't have anything to be scared of tonight."

Jane made a noise and drew her back in his arms to kiss her again. "Did I make the horrible mistake of falling in love with and marrying somebody just as smart as me?"

"Did you?" Lisbon asked, shrugging her shoulders and laughing good-naturedly. "I really don't know. _You're _the expert, why don't you tell me?"

Jane reached up and turned off the light on his night-stand before reaching over Lisbon and doing the same to her's. "I have to think about it a little bit."

"Of course you do," Lisbon said, snuggling up to him as he lay down again and rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes shutting. "Because it would be a drastic blow to your ego if you weren't the smartest person in the room for once."

He laughed as he ghosted his hand up and down her spine in an attempt to lull her to sleep. But she was already half-way asleep, her gentle breathing and the way her body was pressed against his proved to be exactly what he needed to annihilate the last of the fears that were lingering in the back of his mind.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**I really don't have a good excuse for this story. I will say that I'm not a huge fan of it. . . I think it's disjointed, and kind of indulgent. But I'll let you be the judge instead of listening to my own insecurities. If you liked it, click on the box and review. . . I'd love to hear your thoughts. Even if they aren't too positive. . . I just request that the negative reviews is something that will help me improve as a writer.**

**Anyways, have a safe and Happy Halloween. I'm going downtown with my sister and the girls she works with. Can anybody guess who I'm going to be? Blueberry muffins and coffee to the first person who gets it right.**

**Lots of love,**

**Holly, 10/25/2012_**

**P.S**

**Be on the lookout for the last three stories in my "a Boyfriend For Christmas" series, starting with the one where Lisbon tells Jane that she's pregnant. . . I haven't decided if there's going to be a holiday in that story. I just need to do some calculating first. **


	16. Right For Each Other

**Story 16 – Right For Each Other**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary:**

**After ten years of fighting his feelings for her, after ten years of trying to push her away because he thought it was the only way to keep her safe, and after ten years of jealously watching other guys flirt with her and flirting with other women (while trying to keep other women far away from him), Jane was finally ready to confess that he loved Lisbon and not take it back. **

**Rated: T**

**Author's Note:**

**I realized this afternoon that I started writing Jane & Lisbon fan fiction 3-years-ago yesterday. So, I decided to do something special for everybody even though I have three other stories that are screaming for my attention and a college project now that I got my "Sexy Men" issue of People. But I couldn't resist repaying everybody's kindness to me with a little something. The reason I chose the quote that I did for this story is because even though some fans are crying Kirkland/Lisbon (or Lisbon/anybody-other-than Jane, I still believe with ALL of my heart that they are only right for **_**each other**_**.) If you disagree, please find another story to read, the only thing happening here is die-hard "Jisbon-y" goodness because I'm a fan, and I will go down with my ship.**

**Dedicated to:**

**All my reviewers, past and present included. I wouldn't be where I am today as a Mentalist writer if it hadn't been for every single one of you.**

**Disclaimer: **

**I own nothing that is Mentalist related, if I did then Lisbon and Jane wouldn't be so totally oblivious to their obvious feelings for each other. And I don't own the Cutting Edge, not even a copy of the DVD. I watched it once a long, long time ago when I was baby-sitting the kid down my street.**

**Shout-outs:**

**tromana (for her review on story 14), vanrigsby, LaurenvBelladonna, Totorsg, Little-Firestar84, and Wldwmn **

**.**

"**Don't say we're not right for each other, the way I see it we aren't right for anyone else."**

**The Cutting Edge_**

After ten years of fighting his feelings for her, after ten years of trying to push her away because he thought it was the only way to keep her safe, and after ten years of jealously watching other guys flirt with her and flirting with other women (while trying to keep other women far away from him), Jane was finally ready to confess that he loved Lisbon and not take it back.

Her favorite coffee in hand, he peered through her office door and saw her at her desk, her head bent down as she diligently worked on a stack of paperwork that had gotten backlogged because of how busy they had been around the Serious Crimes Unit. He hesitated for a second and then knocked on the glass, waiting impatiently for her to look up and wave him in.

She did one better, when she looked up and saw that he was looking in at her, she capped her pen and got up from her chair, coming to greet him with a smile.

"You haven't been around all day," she said as she followed him to her couch. "I was worried."

"I left you a text message," Jane answered, settling into the couch and patting the seat next to him.

"That was barely a text message," Lisbon retorted as she joined him.

"You're right it _was_ barely a text message. Maybe I should have called you," Jane conceded.

"A call would have been nice."

"Oh!" Jane said suddenly, shoving the now cool cup of coffee into her hand. "This is for you! Sorry that it isn't hot anymore. . ."

"It's fine," Lisbon assured him as she put it down on top of an outdated Reader's Digest. "Maybe we grab some coffee tomorrow or something."

"That would be nice," Jane agreed.

"So, what are you doing here so late?" Lisbon asked. "I mean, the work day is over and everybody's gone for the day."

"I wanted to talk to you," he replied. "Alone."

"Alone?" She repeated, feeling a wave of an emotion she couldn't identify sweep over her.

"Alone," Jane answered. "Just you and me, without a case or the team around to interrupt us, it's important."

"Okay," Lisbon said slowly, her pulse skittering slightly. "I'm listening."

"I love you," Jane answered, cutting to the chase immediately. "And I'm not taking it back this time, if you ask me about it tomorrow I won't say that I said it in the heat of the moment, I'll repeat it over and over again if I have to."

"Jane you don't love me," Lisbon whispered. "You _can't_ love me! We aren't right for each other at all. . . it would _never _work out! We'd argue all the time—"

"It doesn't matter if we do!" Jane replied. "I _love_ you and I want to spend the rest of my life arguing with you."

"Well, that just sounds miserable!" She all but retorted. "Jane, we aren't—"

"Don't you _dare_ say it again!" He cut her off. "We _are_ right for each other! And the fact is, I don't think we're right for anybody else."

"Oh yeah? And how'd you come to _that _stellar conclusion?" Lisbon challenged.

"Because _anybody else_ has already come into our lives and left," Jane answered. "But we're both still here."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"I know you love me too Teresa," Jane said softly.

"You _don't_ know that!" Lisbon insisted.

"But I do," Jane answered.

Lisbon groaned inwardly, expecting him to make some sort of arrogant remark about her being a little more than obvious in her regard for him. But he didn't say anything; instead he fell silent and observed her with hopeful eyes as he waited for her to say something again.

She chewed on her lip. "It doesn't matter if we love each other, you know. It doesn't mean that we're right for each other."

Jane struggled to keep his frustration at bay as he reached out and took her hand, looking at her pleadingly. "But you don't really know that unless you give us a chance."

"You're just not going to give up until I give in," Lisbon said. "Isn't that right?"

"When have you ever known me to give up on something that I really want?" Jane replied, sliding his fingers through her's.

"Well, I don't really remember you ever giving up on anything," she admitted as she looked at their intertwined fingers.

"Well, don't expect it to change now," he whispered.

"I don't," Lisbon said, biting her lip. "Jane. . ."

"Yeah?"

She took a deep breath to steady her rapidly heart and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Kiss me."

"_Kiss_ you?" Jane repeated, looking slightly taken aback at the turn of events.

"Kiss me," she whispered.

"Is this some sort of test?" Jane asked, frowning slightly.

"No test," Lisbon assured him. "It's just. . . if this were the movies, you would have kissed me by now. You would have kissed me as soon as you had declared your feelings for me, giving me no chance but to accept you because your kisses were so persuasive."

"You watch a lot of TV," Jane said.

"Barely," Lisbon replied, deciding that she had to be the one to throw caution to the wind and be the one to kiss _him_.

They met half-way, stopping and looking at each other certainly for a second before melding their lips together in an awkward first kiss, like two teenagers discovering that there was more than holding hands, shy flirtations, and side hugs.

Lisbon broke the kiss, blushing slightly as they looked at each other shyly. "Sorry—" she started, not knowing why she felt the need to apologize.

Jane didn't let her finish her sentence; he kissed her again this time with a little more confidence than before. It was better than their first, but still a little tentative like he wasn't sure of what they were doing exactly. It felt right though, and he knew with time it would only get better, that they could make the physical stuff work just as well as they had made their friendship work.

After a couple of minutes, Lisbon pulled away and smiled at him. "I love you."

"Just remember who said it first," Jane said.

Lisbon shook her head, laughing a little and then whispered in his ear, "It only matters who gets the last word."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," Jane replied, kissing her again.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Yeah, this isn't my most stellar piece of work. Blame it on the pressure to write two other stories for the Mentalist Big Bang on Livejournal and the insane cold I've been fighting. Plus, my 13-year-old cousin challenged me to write 1000 words, so I'm afraid that I concentrated on proving I could rather than the story.**

**I love honest reviews, so tell me what you thought if you want to. **

**And the next story I post for this series should be a Christmas one. Really, I have no choice because I have three other stories that need attention. **

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 11/26/2012_**


	17. Spiked Eggnog

**Story 17 – Spiked Eggnog**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary:**

**Rating: T**

**Warnings: **

**Lisbon might be a little OOC, and my mistakes are unchecked.**

**Disclaimer:**

**I own nothing, I asked for it for Christmas but I most definitely won't be getting it. Even Santa doesn't have that much money. I do own a pre-owned version of the 1994 version of "Miracle on 34****th**** Street", but only sort of. . . my parents really own it.**

**Shout-Outs:**

**LaurenVBelladonna, Totorsg, NeverMessWithTeddyBears, guest, Wldwmn, LAurore, Lothlorien Aeterna, and Special Agent Baker for their reviews on story 16. They were much appreciated and thrilling, I haven't had that many reviews in a long while.**

_An early Christmas present for Nerwen Aldrion and my little sister Kat, who both think things can _ONLY _happen with Jane and Lisbon when they're both drunk. Merry Christmas to two girls I REALLY enjoy spending time with, one online and one in real life._

**.**

"**Listen, I just got some mistletoe. Why don't we go back to my place and try it out."**

**Miracle on 34****th**** Street (1994)_**

Teresa Lisbon had no idea how she had wound up in Patrick Jane's apartment.

One minute they had been drinking eggnog and making fun of the other people at the annual CBI Christmas party, and the next he had been whispering in her ear about skipping the party and going to his place to experiment with mistletoe.

With three glasses of eggnog in her system and the loud atmosphere of the party, it had seemed like one of his best ideas _ever_. So, she had allowed him to help her into her coat and whisk her out of the lavish hotel ballroom and to his car while she ignored the envious looks from every single other female CBI employee.

But now that she was standing in his hallway, their coats carelessly discarded at their feet, with his lips pressed against her's she was starting to rethink the prudence of making a decision like this under the influence of alcohol. With her eyes closed, the only places she could see their "experimenting with mistletoe" was all the wrong places.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. "Jane, we shouldn't do this."

"Why not?" He asked, shaking his head slightly as he grasped a handful of her silvery, grey formal dress that she had bought off the rack from J.C Penny's.

"Because I'm pretty sure that we're both drunk," she answered.

He brushed his fingers across the fading scar from 'O Laughlin's gunshot wound as he contemplated her statement. After a moment, he bent down and kissed it. "We're not _that_ drunk," he finally said as he looked back up at her and took her hand, leading her into his living room.

He settled her down on the loveseat, dimmed the lights and went over to his stereo system; he turned it on and flipped through stations before settling on one that was playing jazzy Christmas music.

"Is _this_ how you were planning on seducing me the whole?" Lisbon asked as she kicked off her sparkly, silver heels and tucked her legs underneath her. "With much spiked eggnog, a big band version of _Baby It's Cold Outside_ on the radio, and a pay-per-view Yuletide log on your expensive, flat screen television set?"

Jane laughed, toeing off his dress shoes and getting rid of his bowtie as he joined her on the couch. "There isn't a pay-per-view Yuletide log on my television. But if you want one, just say the word and I'll order it for you right now."

"No. . . I'm good," Lisbon said, drumming her fingers on the armrest.

"Good," Jane replied as he leaned in so close to her that she could smell a hint of eggnog, rum and gingerbread cookies on his breath. "Now where were we a few minutes ago?"

"Right here," she answered, her eyelids fluttering shut as she closed the distance between them as she joined their lips tentatively.

He wound his arms around her neck, haphazardly pulling bobby pins out of her hair, tossing them over the couch as her dark locks tumbled loosely over her shoulders.

"Wait a minute," she said, pushing him away again.

Jane groaned and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "What is it now Teresa?"

"I can't spend the night. . ." Lisbon trailed off looking for plausible reasons to give him for why she wasn't going to stay with him. "I-I don't have my retainers."

"Okay," Jane said, nuzzling her nose with his before starting to kiss her freckles. "Then I'll take you home in a little bit."

"That's it?" Lisbon asked, pushing him away again. "You're not going to make fun of me because I still wear retainers, or try and convince me to stay the night?"

"Nope," Jane replied, tenderly tracing her scar before kissing it again. "If I did that, it wouldn't get either of us anywhere."

She was about to say something when he found her lips again, driving all thought from her mind for a few minutes as he kissed her in ways that you'd only read about in pharmacy novels.

"Jane," Lisbon said, stopping him again.

"What?"

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" She asked uncertainly. "You don't think we're going to regret this tomorrow morning when we aren't dressed up and we haven't had a little too much to drink?"

"I could never regret you Teresa," Jane answered.

"You're not just saying that because I'm here and because you don't want to be alone tonight, are you?"

"Never," he whispered, pushing his fingers through her hair and kissing her slowly as he got to his feet, bringing her with him, he stopped and lifted her chin so they were looking each other straight in the eyes. "I've wanted to do this for a while, tonight's the first time I've actually had the courage to do it—"

"Because you're—"

"If you say a _drunk_ again, I am seriously going to kill you Teresa Lisbon," Jane threatened mockingly.

"But how do you know it isn't just because you had a little too much to drink?

Jane shook his head and kissed her before she could stop him or say anything else. "You think _way_ too much," he quipped.

"No—" She started to protest.

"Lisbon, I can practically hear your thoughts!" He replied. "Just stop thinking for right now. And if you're still worried about it in the morning, then we'll talk about it in the morning. I know you're nervous, but tonight, I just want this to be the two of us. . . without worries what's going to happen down the road."

"Is this so easy for you?" She asked. "To ruin our friendship with—"

He silenced her with his lips, frustrated that she wasn't listening to him and touched at the same time that she cared so much about their relationship that she didn't want to ruin it with feelings they'd both been feeling for each other for a very long time.

"We won't ruin our friendship," he promised, taking her cross necklace for a second as if to say he was swearing on a holier power, then he dropped it and sighed. "I _promise_ that I won't let it ruin our friendship."

Lisbon sighed, wishing she could be stronger and hold her ground, but with the way he was looking at her and rubbing circles into her back, it was _impossible_ to do either.

"Okay," she finally agreed, allowing him to kiss her again a little more intimately than before. She threw caution to the wind and joined in fervently, they would talk about it tomorrow.

Tonight, she would enjoy where they were going.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Whew! And this story started so carefully plotted out, I don't know how it got away with me! I just started writing and the words flew from me the way you saw them above. If you want to tell me what you thought, I'm interested in hearing it. Just click on the review button.**

**Oh! And if you really want an early Christmas present, go check out donnamour1969's (especially Emma, which she's co-writing with Waterbaby) or Nerwen Aldrion's fan fictions. You won't be disappointed, I swear! **

"**Christmas in Chicago" update this weekend.**

**Lots of love,**

**Holly, 12/5/2012_**


	18. Missed Opportunities

**Story 18 – Missed Opportunities**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Summary: **

**Lisbon sighed dejectedly and looked away, a little disappointed that he hadn't responded to her with an **_**I love you**_** of his own. It was just another missed opportunity in a long series of missed opportunities, they'd become second-nature to her. Quote taken from "My Best Friend's Wedding".**

**Rated: K+**

**Author's Note:**

**I should be working on my Big Bang and a sequel/one-shot to "Nick & Nora" right now, but I hit a wall with both stories. So, I decided to take a mental break. The song "Perfect Moment" by Martina McCutheon was the inspiration for the last part of this story. Rush to Youtube and listen to it, I promise that you won't be disappointed. And if the story doesn't follow the quote I chose, I'm sorry. I just let my muse take the reins for the story since I've had iron control over it the past few months. **

**Shout-Outs: Special Agent Baker, vanrigsby, SteeleSimz, Lothlorien Aeterna, eblonde, Tina, Wldwmn, Katrina, Frogster, Totorsg, and LaurenvBelladonna for their reviews on "Spiked Eggnog". **

**.**

"**If you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just passes you by."**

**My Best Friend's Wedding_**

**.**

"I love you," Teresa Lisbon said, green eyes meeting green as they stared at each other from across the dusty, old warehouse that they were locked up in.

She knew being tied up and facing impending death by the hand of a serial killer probably wasn't the most appropriate time for confessions, but she didn't want to die without telling him how she felt. She'd already let too many opportunities to let him know how she felt pass her by.

Patrick Jane frowned, obviously puzzled by her sudden revelation of the words she'd so carefully avoided saying. "Why are you telling me _now_?"

"Why not?" Lisbon replied, lifting her chin determinedly. "If I don't say it now, I might _never _get the chance to tell you how I feel."

He shook his head. "Don't talk like that," he begged softly. "We're going to get out of this alive. I promise you we will."

"How do you know? This is Red John we're talking about—"

"We're going to get out of this alive," he said firmly. "I'm going to make sure of it and then, we'll see what happens next. I swear to you Lisbon, I won't let anything happen to you."

Lisbon sighed dejectedly and looked away, a little disappointed that he hadn't responded to her with an _I love you_ of his own. It was just another missed opportunity in a long series of missed opportunities, they'd become second-nature to her.

**.**

"I love you."

It was right after Red John's execution and they were standing outside a maximum security prison. The air was heavy with death and darkness and blood, and the promise of heavy rainstorms. But Lisbon was drowning in the silence that had cropped up between them; she'd been waiting months to speak her peace again.

"Shhhh," Jane answered, putting a finger to her lips and shaking his head, looking at her with sad eyes. "We can't do this. Not here, not now."

Lisbon sighed, biting back a _if not now, then when? _as she pulled out her car keys and started for her car, trying to hide her frustration from him.

Jane, of course, sensed it anyways and stilled her with a hand on her elbow. "It's not that I don't _want_ to. I do, more than anything. It just doesn't feel right. Not today."

Lisbon understood where he was coming from, she really did. Maybe if she were the one in his shoes, she wouldn't want their coming together to happen right after they'd witnessed the death of one of the state's most notorious serial killers. Maybe she'd want it to happen under sunnier circumstances and in a place that wasn't so gloomy.

She had already waited a decade for him. Waiting a little bit longer wasn't going to kill her and she had the patience of a saint.

**.**

"I love you too," Jane said as he brushed Lisbon's bangs out of her forehead and dabbed the blood away from cheeks with a damp, brown paper towel. "Did I ever tell you that?"

"Once," Lisbon answered sighing dejectedly. "But you took it back. And whenever I bring up that _I _love you, you always say it isn't the right time."

"You always say it at the most inopportune times," he pointed out.

"It's always because those are the moments that I'm afraid if I don't say it, then I'll never get the chance to say it again." She reached for his free hand and intertwined their fingers. "The first time, I thought for sure Red John was going to kill us. The second time was because you were going to run away after he'd had been executed. And the third time—"

"The third time, if I remember correctly, I was sick with a high fever."

"Yeah," Lisbon replied, looking slightly embarrassed. "I just wanted to you to know, I wanted _something_ to happen. But at that point, I was tired of being rejected. So, I said it when I thought you were too sick to be actually paying attention to me."

Jane smirked. "Of course you didn't count on my memory palace or my ability to pay attention to anything, regardless of the situation."

She blushed and pushed him away. "Get out of the women's room, Jane."

"So, you don't want to talk about the fact that I love you?"

"Not right now," she answered, sliding off the counter. "And since when do _you_ get to decide when we talk about our feelings for each other?"

"Since I realized I could have lost you today."

Lisbon scoffed. "Please, it was just a couples cuts, one scratch, and a few bruises!"

"But it _could_ have been worse," Jane replied as he followed her out of the bathroom and into the break room. "And if it was worse, then I would have never gotten the chance to tell you that I love you too."

"Were you _ever_ going to tell me how you felt?" Lisbon asked, looking at him as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Were you ever going to let _me_ tell you how I felt about you and respond to it? Or was every time going to be the wrong time?"

"I honestly don't know," Jane answered. "Sometimes I was happy just keeping things the way they were between us. I didn't know why you wanted to ruin things with words and feelings. Other times, I wanted to ruin things. I wanted to ruin things between so badly. Those were the opportunities that I just let pass me by without thinking twice about it."

Lisbon looked a little sad as she considered his confession. "So, you really were going to let me spend the rest of my life wondering?"

"I told you, I didn't know."

She nodded. "If today hadn't ever happened then you never would have said anything. You would have been content in loving me from across my office, comfortable in your silence."

"Maybe," Jane agreed. "But maybe I would have choked a little bit."

"Choked?" Lisbon asked, stirring a little cream and sugar into her coffee before taking a long sip.

"On the words I never said," he replied. "I know you aren't very happy with me right now, and that I probably don't have a right to expect anything from you, especially since I've already rejected you twice—"

"_But?"_

"But I just hope you won't let us lose another opportunity. I've already been stupid enough for the both of us."

Lisbon sighed, all of their 'missed' opportunities flashed in front of her eyes in living Technicolor and her stubbornness floated away like a balloon. It didn't matter anymore who had said it first, or how or where they had said it.

All that it mattered was they both knew.

That they both were receptive to it.

She released another breath and bit her lip before her mouth quirked into a little smile. "I guess it goes without saying that I love you too."

"Maybe," Jane answered as he took a step towards her. "But I do like hearing it. It's nice."

"Then, I love you too."

Jane smiled at her, running his finger down the shallow cut in her cheek, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Lisbon knew what it was a prelude to, was about to tell him that they had to have boundaries. Kissing and excessive touching in the office would have to be off-limits. But she paused for a second, there was nobody around at the moment and she had waited _so _long to know what his lips felt like, what he tasted like.

She turned her face towards his and closed her eyes, waiting in breathless anticipation for their mouths to join. When they did, it was dizzying. It was like every stolen glance, every touch, every veiled word they had ever spoken to each other. . . every single missed opportunity had been leading up to this one perfect moment in time.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Really short and sweet. I wasn't looking for perfect while I was writing this. It was basically my last break before I put the finishing touches on my last 2012 Big Bang story (look for it starting next week). And it has been a LONG time since I wrote anything for this collection. You don't have to love this, just tell me what you thought or your emotions towards it. That's all I need.**

**I'll be back soon, I promise. **

**Love you all,**

**Holly, 3/23/2013_**


	19. Fearing, Risking, Loving

**Story 19 – Fearing, Risking, Loving**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg and Wldwmn**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Rated: T**

**A/N:**

**The trailer for the Terrance Malick film "To The Wonder" is this trailer I watched a month ago. I just watched it to watch it not having idea what it was. 31 days later and I can't get it out of my head, in a way it is everything I wished I could be as a writer. And it has inspired me. I plan to actually make this one-shot into a multi-chapter eventually, but for now here's a little taste of what I want to do after "My Brother's Keeper" is finished. It doesn't exactly follow the quote I chose to use, that will come later when I write the full story. All typos and grammar mistakes belong to me.**

**.**

"**To love is to run the risk of failure, the risk of betrayal. . ."**

**To The Wonder_**

"Have you talked to him yet Teresa?" Fredrick Jones asked as she helped him clean up his kitchen one last time. "Does he know you're coming home tomorrow?"

"I'm going to surprise him," she answered, drying the last plate. "I just hope he's still there when I get back."

The elderly priest nodded towards where her cell phone was charging on the counter. "You should call him right now. Who would it hurt?"

Lisbon shook her head. "What if I call him and he's still in Sacramento?"

"Wouldn't that be a good thing though? You want to see him again, don't you?"

"Yes. But what if I go back tomorrow and he's not there anymore because he knew I was coming back?"

Father Jones picked up her cell phone and held it out to her. "Call him, he might surprise you."

Lisbon hesitated for a moment then she sighed and accepted the phone from him. "This is going to be an awkward conversation to have over the phone," she said.

"You don't need to have the conversation over the phone," he told her. "You just need to make sure he knows that you two need to have a talk. The actual conversation can come later on when the two of you are face-to-face."

"I'm kind of still scared to actually talk to him," Lisbon admitted in a small voice.

"You were never scared of him before," Father Jones reminded her as he took a book and glasses off the counter and started for the living room. "The church is still open, if you want to place your call there. Maybe it will give you the strength that you need to do what you have to do."

Lisbon leaned against the counter and weighed her options for a moment. Then, she grabbed her jacket, deciding a trek over to the little church across the street sounded like a good idea.

**.**

She sat down in the front pew and breathed a silent prayer for the courage to call him. Then she prayed again as she pulled up his number and pressed the send button with trembling fingers.

He picked up after the first ring and when she heard his voice saying her name, she almost threw the phone across the sanctuary, not sure of what to say or do now that she had gotten a hold of him. But she took a deep breath and forced herself to answer him.

"Hey Jane."

"Lisbon," he repeated, his voice suddenly flooding with relief. "Thank goodness you're okay. You haven't been in touch with anybody since you disappeared last month—"

"I'm sorry. I should have called you sooner, I just needed. . . time—"

"I understand," Jane said softly.

"Anyways, I was just calling you to tell you that I'll be coming home tomorrow and that I think we need to talk. No. . . we _do_ need to talk."

"Okay," Jane replied, pausing for a second. "Do you want me to come and get you at the airport?"

"It's fine," she answered. "I'll just meet you somewhere after I land."

"You're sure?" He double-checked. "Because I really don't mind coming to get you—"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Meet me tomorrow at that place you took me a few years ago in Napa Valley around six 'o clock. I'll be waiting for you there."

"I'm looking forward to it," Jane replied, sounding happy and at peace. "See you tomorrow, Teresa."

_Tomorrow_ never had a word sounded so sweet to her before. She smiled and sighed almost contentedly. "Goodnight, Jane."

She stopped herself from saying the "I love you" that was on the tip of her tongue and hung up the phone quickly. She had waited ten years to tell him how she felt. She could wait a few more hours to tell him face-to-face, mostly because she wanted to see his reaction when she said it even if it was going to be a negative reaction.

She looked around the quaint little church building one last time and prayed that he wouldn't have a negative reaction.

**.**

"Thank you," Lisbon told Father Jones as they said their goodbyes on his front porch the next day. "I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me."

"You don't have to," Father Jones replied. "I think I know. I'll be praying for you when you have your meeting with Patrick tonight. Be of good courage, my dear. Second chances don't come along twice, you know. And tell him to be good to you, you definitely deserve it."

Lisbon responded by hugging him, knowing that she would never be able to repay him for all the kindness he had shown her.

He released her and smiled encouragingly. "Go now. You've been here long enough. And you don't want to be late for your flight."

"No I wouldn't," Lisbon agreed, picking up her duffle bag.

"Until we meet again then," Father Jones said, squeezing her gently on the shoulder. "May the peace of our Lord be with you."

"And with you," Lisbon replied as she started down the porch steps and got into her rental SUV. She pulled out of the driveway and rolled down her window and smiled as she looked at the man watching her. "Goodbye. And thank you again for everything you did for me over the past month. I really don't know what I would have done without your help."

"Go on, I know that you're still here because somewhere in the back of your mind you are still afraid that he won't be there when you get home, or that he won't feel the same way you feel. But loving somebody is a risk that you have to be willing to take, or you might end up regretting it for the rest of your life if you don't. And I know you aren't the kind of person who backs down from a challenge; I know that you aren't really the kind of woman who will run away from things that scare you. So, go now. Or I will take you to the airport and put you on the plane personally"

"That won't be necessary," Lisbon said. "I'm going now. Thank—"

He shook his head and pointed to the end of the street. "Goodbye Teresa."

**.**

Lisbon looked in her rearview mirror for what seemed to be the millionth time and pushed away an imaginary strand of hair from her face as she played Father Jones's words over in her mind again giving her the strength to stay put and wait for Jane to show up.

Even though she still didn't exactly know what she was going to do or say when she saw him again. A part of her was tempted to throw caution to the wind and throw herself in his arms, to kiss him senseless and give him no doubt about what was going on in her mind.

Another part of her just wanted to make small talk while they ate dinner, waiting until later in their evening to say anything. She wanted liquid courage and chocolate cake before they had the serious conversation that she had mentioned the day before.

A tap on her car window startled her out of her thoughts, and she turned around to glare at the intruder only to find Jane smiling in at her.

Her face lit up as she pulled the keys from the ignition, and all but bolted from the car to join him outside.

"There you are," he said when they were standing directly in front of each other for the first time in 32 days. He pulled her into a fierce hug. "You don't know how happy I am to see you again. I thought—"

But he let the thought go unfinished, holding onto her a little tighter as she returned his embrace and her world shifted to almost normal again. She hadn't known how much she had truly missed him until that very moment.

After a long while, he pulled away and examined her for a minute. "You look good," he said. "Healthy and well-rested. . ."

"You look good too," Lisbon replied, her arms following to her sides. "You don't look at all like I thought you would. You look—"

"Years younger? Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders?" Jane asked. "I've been getting that a lot these days from everybody that we know."

"So you're—" Lisbon let the question hang in the air between them.

"I'm trying," Jane answered, reaching up and touching her face. "But in all honesty, I was lost without you. Lost without my—"

She wanted to urge him to go on, to tell her everything he was thinking. But one of the things she had learned about Jane over the past decade was that if she didn't force him, he would eventually come to her in his own time.

"Let's go and eat something," Lisbon said, hesitating for a second before she reached for his hand and laced her fingers through his. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Jane shook his head. "I don't think I could eat anything right now, for some reason my stomach is in knots."

"This is a first," she replied teasingly. "Patrick Jane refusing food, what is this world coming to?"

"I don't know how you can joke at a time like this," he said, stopping her from going into the restaurant. "I've been on pins and needles since yesterday, anticipating your return and whatever it is that you say we _need_ to talk about. I almost wish you would put me out of my misery right now even if it means you'll walk away afterwards and I'll never see you again."

Lisbon frowned. "What do you think I'm going to say?"

"How easy you realized how much easier your life is without me," Jane answered. "Or maybe that you met somebody else while you were in Chicago, or maybe—"

"That I love you?" Lisbon said without thinking. "And that the only reason I ran away after we closed the Red John case was because I was afraid that you were going to leave first? I missed you every single day, and even though I was scared to _death_ of what would be waiting for me when I returned, I still couldn't wait to come back. Because I knew there was a possibility that I would be coming back to you," she paused and looked at him directly in the eyes. "Is this too much, too fast?"

"No," Jane replied. "No, it's not too much, too fast. I hoped every day that you would come back and say those exact words to me even though I didn't do a thing to deserve you."

Lisbon looked a little surprised by his response. "I thought you were going to be angry at me. Going off for so long and then coming back and expecting something from you—"

"I can't be angry with you, last night when I heard from you, I _tried_ but it was impossible. And I understand why you left. I do wish you had talked to me first so I could have told you that I didn't have plans to go anywhere but your arms because I love you too."

It was a corny line, but it still filled Lisbon up with warmth from her head to her toes. "You don't know how happy that makes me," she said quietly.

Jane cupped her cheek in his hand and looked at her like he couldn't believe she was actually there. And then out of nowhere, he was kissing her softly. . . sweetly. Her pulse skipped as he deepened the kiss and forced her to finally reciprocate. Their dinner plans were all but forgotten and the last of her fears finally melted away.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Yeah, I don't know about the ending. I'd love to hear your feedback about it though. You guys are all better judges than I am about this stuff. So, if you have the time than type up your thoughts in the review box below.**

**Until next time! (Which will be soon, because I actually have another story started for this collection.)**

**Love,**

**Holly, 4/17/2013_**


	20. Huckleberry Friend

**Story 20 – Huckleberry Friend**

**A Jane/Lisbon Story**

**Brown Eyes Parker**

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Author's Note:**

**Breakfast at Tiffany's is by far my favorite movie EVER. I hope I did it justice. If not, tell me. **

**Shout-outs: Totorsg, ShellGrad, Little-Firestar84, Marcia Santos, Nerwen Aldarion, LAoure, and Wldwmn for reviewing 19.**

"**People do fall in love; people do belong to one another. Because it's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." **

**Breakfast at Tiffany's_**

_For Kat, my mini-me, my lovely ray of sunlight, and the person who inspired this story in the first place, I love you little sister. Thank you for loving me back. _

**.**

**Huckleberry Friend:**

**A very special, good friend that's been in your life for years (typically since youth), 2. From the Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini Song **_**Moon River**_**, which was featured in the classic movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's. **

_They were a tangle of warm skin and stiff hotel sheets; there weren't any thoughts about strings, or consequences of crossing over the thin line of friendship into something more. They didn't they think about their future or the kind of feelings that dawn would bring. They were just two people, trying to forget the world around them for a little while. They were just two people looking for a little bit of comfort from another warm body, from somebody else who could fully understand what the other was going through._

_It happened too quickly and it was over too soon._

_It left one member of the party with the desire for something more and without the words to express how they felt. No matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't whisper _stay_ as the other person got dressed and slipped out of the room without looking back._

**.**

_**Six Months Later**_

Patrick Jane was going crazy.

Two days after they'd spent the night together; Teresa Lisbon had gone out and found somebody new. She hadn't given him a chance to tell her that he wanted the rest of his life made up of evenings with her before falling into another man's arms.

And what made it worse for him was that she hadn't even told him she was seeing somebody else, she hadn't bothered to tell him that she wasn't interested in anything more but one night. He'd found out the news about her new beau from an anxious Rigsby and Van Pelt.

Then Jane saw the two of them together when he came to pick Lisbon up from work one day. And even though he didn't get a chance to meet him, he could tell that she was everything that she ever deserved. The complete package all wrapped up in Armani suits and a gold, diamond-encrusted Cartier wristwatch. A business man with the world at his fingertips and a bottomless wallet, he was everything that he had wished she would find in his darker days when Red John was his sole focus and he was afraid of losing her.

But now that he was free, he loathed every single guy who even breathed in her direction.

All he wanted to do was rewind to the night that they had shared in the cheap, long-stay motel room. He wanted beg her to stay while he stole a few more of her kisses and he plied her with sweet nothings and tried to make her understand that she belonged to him.

He could never go back to that night and he was losing her a little bit more every single day.

Nothing had been the same since the fateful night they had given into each other.

Jane didn't think anything could ever be the same between them ever again.

**.**

Lisbon met him two days after she'd grabbed her clothes and dashed while Jane had tried to form the words _I love you _and maybe something more.

Two days later her lips had still been tingling from Jane's tender kisses. . . her skin still warmed every time she thought about his fingers grazing it ever so gently. She had never felt that way about anybody before, and she was scared.

So, she had gotten dressed up a little bit and driven two hours to a high end bar, hoping to forget her enormity of her feelings for him, if only for a couple hours.

It was almost like he had been waiting for her. She'd barely been there five minutes when he came up to her and introduced himself.

His name was Matthew Robbins.

He was vice president of a prestigious law firm.

He was newly out of a relationship and he was looking for somebody who only wanted to have a few laughs. Commitment would _never_ enter his vocabulary so as long as it didn't enter her's.

Lisbon had liked the sound of that.

She knew from experience that commitment would only break her heart in the long run.

So, she ignored her tingling lips and her warm skin and accepted his offer to buy her another drink and to dance.

When the evening was over, she declined his offer to go back to his apartment.

Even though she was scared to death and trying to blot her night with Jane from her mind, she still didn't feel right spending the night with somebody else 48 hours after she'd finally given herself to the man she truly loved.

She knew that living with the guilt of doing something like _that_ would be worse than living with the fear of the words that Jane had tried to get out before she'd left and whatever it was that he expected of her next.

Her heart almost broke the first time he came by the CBI to pick her up for a date. The only time she had seen Jane look _that_ devastated was whenever a major lead they had on Red John had turned out to be a dead end.

She was sure that he'd stake his claim on her then; maybe fight her on her choices a little bit. But all he had done was stop by her office and smiled while he told her how happy he was that she'd finally found somebody worthy of her.

The relief she thought that would follow after that didn't come at all.

She was sure that he'd be immature and possessive when she brought Matthew around for the first time. But he hadn't even made a sarcastic or suggestive remark.

She knew in her heart of hearts that he wasn't really happy at all.

She wished she could go back to the night in his hotel room and take it all back. Or maybe she would stay this time and allow him say what he needed to say before diving back into bed and curling up beside him.

Nothing had been the same since that night.

And Lisbon was pretty sure that things would never be the same again.

**.**

Months had passed and Matthew Robbins had become a regular fixture in Lisbon's life. He was almost always there, plying her with theater tickets and expensive gelato he had gotten flown in especially from Italy especially for her.

And Lisbon was all smiles and silly conversation. She didn't exactly look like a woman in love, but from where he stood it was pretty close.

Jane didn't want her to fall in love with somebody who was good for her anymore. He wanted it to go back to the days where there was a possibility of her falling for him even though he was all wrong for her. He wanted to make her listen to him once and for all. He wanted to make her see everything that she was missing out on by being with somebody else.

But for the first time in a long time, he couldn't bring himself to be selfish no matter how hard he wanted to.

**.**

"Matthew asked mine and Rigsby's permission to ask Lisbon to move in," Cho told him bluntly.

Jane lowered the book he was reading and frowned. "What do you mean he asked your _permission_ to ask Lisbon to move in with him?"

"Exactly like I said," Cho answered. "He took me and Rigsby out to lunch today and asked our permission to ask Lisbon to move in with him. Believe me I thought it was weird too."

Jane suddenly felt anxious. "And what did you say?"

"I told him that Lisbon was a grown woman and that he didn't need my permission to ask her anything," Cho replied. "Rigsby didn't say anything because I stopped him before he got the chance."

"And why are you telling _me_ that he asked your permission—?"

Cho rolled his eyes. "For California's leading consultant, you can be pretty stupid sometimes. I thought you'd want to know, so you could do something about it."

"What am _I_ going to do about it? You said it yourself, Lisbon's a grown woman. She can do whatever she wants."

"Yeah, but I want her to know _all_ of her options before she goes off and does something dumb like going and moving in with Matthew. I know I'm not as smart as you, but I _do_ have eyes and I could tell that you started to fall for her the day you met her. And I know she loves you too. So, you need to at least _give_ her a choice between you and Matthew."

"I already—"

"Don't give me any of that," Cho interjected. "You need to go and try _harder_. Don't take no for an answer, or I will make you regret it."

"I don't doubt it," Jane said almost dryly.

Cho gave him half a smile. "Good, I'm glad we're clear."

"Cho!" Jane stopped him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Thank you."

**.**

"I think you should break up with Matthew," Jane said in way of greeting Lisbon.

Lisbon closed the filing drawers shut and frowned at him. "What do you mean, I should _break up_ with Matthew?" she asked.

"Exactly what I said," Jane answered. "I want you to break up with him. At first I thought I could handle seeing you with somebody else, but I was wrong. I can't handle it, in fact I shouldn't have handled it in the first place. I should have showed you how I felt the first time we got together. I should have _forced_ you to listen to me. I know I didn't, but I'm doing it now. Lisbon, I love you. You belong to me—"

"We were together _once_," Lisbon told him evenly. "That doesn't give you ownership of me."

"We belonged to each other long before that night," Jane said. "Everybody could see it. It's why none of our potential love interests ever stayed around long."

"You're crazy," she replied, going over to her desk and snatching up her coffee mug.

"Why are you so afraid of me? Of _us_?" He asked. "Why can't you admit that whatever's between us is real and has been for the last ten years? Why are you afraid to say that you love me? Why can't you commit to something that's actually real?"

"That sort of stuff only gets people into trouble," Lisbon answered. "Why can't you see that? True love and commitment will only break your heart in the end."

Jane sighed in exasperation and shook his head. "But love. . . belonging to each other body and soul is the only shot we have for real happiness in this lifetime."

Lisbon wilted. "Jane. . ."

"It's fine," Jane answered wearily. "If Matthew _really _makes you happy, then by all means go and be with him. Move in with him, marry him. . . have his _kids_ for all I care. But I won't be around to watch you do it. I've been breaking my heart these past nine months but don't expect me to do it anymore."

Lisbon frowned. "You said you were happy for me—"

"You of all people should know by now that I'm good at pretending," he said, shaking his head. "I'm done. I'll see you around Lisbon."

"Jane—" Lisbon tried again.

But he was gone before she could say anything else.

**.**

All she could think about was Jane and the look on his face when he had finally tried to confront her.

Nine months.

That was an awfully long time to wait to say something to somebody when you loved them.

And she had shut him down.

Again.

It was a terrible thing to do.

And he had seen right through her.

He had known she was scared, and he had let her shut him down again.

Now Matthew had taken her to the most expensive restaurant in Sacramento, and he was talking about starting a future together. Buying a house, signing a lease, maybe getting a dog and flying to New York to look for rings at Tiffany's.

It hit her then.

She was just trading one commitment in for a poor replica of one.

She couldn't do it.

Not to Jane.

He didn't deserve that.

So, she smiled at him and said no. She reminded him at the beginning of relationship they both had said it would just be for laughs, no commitment necessary.

She thanked him for everything he had done for her and then she left without looking back.

**.**

Lisbon found Jane packing up his attic.

"I'm turning in my resignation tomorrow," he said without turning around. "I really wish you all the happiness in the world. If anybody deserves it, it's you."

"Patrick," she said, coming up to him and stopping him from throwing a brand new copy of Breakfast At Tiffany's into a cardboard box.

He looked at her, his eyes filled with hope by the use of his first name. "Yes?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," she said.

And then she kissed him, hoping it would be the first steps into making things right.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Thoughts? Feelings? I'd love to hear them!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 4/24/2013_**


	21. Making Promises, Breaking Promises

**Story 21 – Promises Made, Promises Broken**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: NeverMessWithTeddyBears, SweetyLove30, Totorsg, Jane Doe51, ljp42, AngryLittlePrincess, Lothlorien Aeterna, Wldwmn, and Nerwen Aldarion for reviewing "Huckleberry Friend".**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

**Warnings: I didn't write this in one sitting and I didn't have anybody beta this for me. So, there are mistakes and it's kind of all over the place. And there are spoilers for season 5. Read at your own risk. (Plus, the title is really lame. I couldn't think of anything else though.)**

**Rated: T**

**.**

"**But you know the thing about romance is. . . people don't get together until the very end."**

**Love, Actually_**

She had barely known Patrick Jane a week when he had the _audacity_ to go and instruct her not to fall in love with him. At first she thought that he was either teasing her or he was a little too confident in his looks and appeal. But one look in his beautiful green eyes and she knew that he was dead serious.

One look into his beautiful green eyes and she saw it all.

He _really_ didn't want her to fall in love with him.

He was trying to set boundaries before they needed to be set.

And she could see a terrible, deep fear without a name.

If she was being really honest, she was grateful for his bluntness. She'd fallen for a co-worker once before and in the end it had caused her nothing but lots heartache. She wasn't even going to _think_ about making the same mistakes twice.

"Don't worry," she said after a second. "I wasn't even _planning_ on falling in love with you."

"Really?" He asked some of the arrogance she had expected from him earlier was coloring his tone. Then he smiled easily and shrugged before turning to go. "Good to know. I'm glad that we understand each other, Agent Lisbon."

"Wait!" She called before he could leave her office.

Jane didn't even turn around to look at her. "Yes?"

"I hope we can still be friends, even though you don't want me to fall in love with you."

This time he did turn around, wearing an expression of slight shock. "Friends?" he repeated.

"Friends," Lisbon answered, smiling at him. "You do have friends, don't you?"

Jane got a distant look in his eyes and he shook his head. "Not anymore."

"Oh," Lisbon said, understanding what he meant without even asking. A lot of her own friends had disappeared after her mother had died, each one of them unsure how to act around her. It was sad to see that adult's attitudes towards death were that of a young child.

He nodded, knowing she understood.

"So?" She asked. "Friends?"

"Friends," he agreed, smiling at her unexpectedly. "A little friendship never hurt anybody. Right?"

**.**

**.**

The honest truth was that he had fallen for her the first day they had shook hands.

At first he had thought that it was just a natural reaction to meeting a normal woman after spending six months playing Uno with female nutcases and doctors who force-fed him drugs while they tried to get him to talk about his feelings.

Back then, he was sure that whatever he had felt in the first moments of meeting her would go away after a couple of days of being around her. But then, she had signed him on to work with her and as the days turned to weeks, his so-called 'natural reaction' towards her had only intensified. Every single little thing that she did only made him love her more.

So, he came up with the brilliant idea to make her promise not to fall in love with him. He knew that she would do everything in her power to keep her word; she was just that kind of woman.

It was the most arrogant of requests, but she wasn't insulted like other women would have been if he asked them. She didn't slap his face or stomp away or call him names. She had simply promised that she wouldn't fall in love with him and then asked if they could still be friends.

Much to his dismay, he fell in love with her even more because of it.

**.**

One year to the day.

That was how long it took for her to break her promise to him.

It had happened without her even knowing that it had. There weren't any crashing chords or anything else to make her suspect a change in their relationship. As far as she was concerned, everything was the same between them as it had always been. She was as faithful to her promise as always. All smiles and easy banter, never wanting anything more from him than a quick bite to eat around lunchtime or easy conversation on the way back home from an out-of-town case.

The only person that knew it had happened was Jane. But he kept it to himself, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt either of them. He had grown used to having her around and he wasn't willing to give her up just because she had unintentionally fallen in love with him.

Besides, who was he to hold her to a promise that he would have broken if the tables had been turned and she had made _him_ promise not to fall in love with her? Who was he to call her out for doing something that he had already done?

**.**

And then she realized it. It was years and years after she'd first made the promise not to fall in love with him. It was years and years after she'd asked him if he wanted to be friends. It happened after he had left her for Vegas and Red John. It happened after he had slept with Lorelei and before he had pretended to shoot her. It happened right around the time they saw each other for the first time in six months and he had proclaimed that he loved her.

She still didn't say anything to him about it though. She struggled with it by herself, only partially showing her hand when Red John's lover was around or when she came up in conversations.

He was thankful that she didn't say anything to him. Because the longer she didn't say anything to him, the longer he would be able to hold onto the ignorant hope that Red John wouldn't pick up on their burgeoning affection for each other.

In the back of his mind, he knew that he was being foolish. These days, everybody around them had seemed to pick up on it. And they barely knew them, so it went without saying that Red John did indeed know what was going on.

And that's what had made him take back his _love you_. That's what made him stop her from saying anything after their visit with Sean Barlow. He wasn't exactly sure if she was going to address the topic of her feelings for her, but he knew that he didn't want to find out if she was.

Because he knew that once it was out there, it was out there for good. There'd be no way to turn around or try and take back what they had said this time.

And that's what scared him the most.

But avoiding the subject at hand didn't do him any good at all. Because, even though he had tried hard to pretend that they didn't love each other, Red John wasn't one to be fooled.

In retrospect, he knew that he really hadn't been fooling anybody at all.

So, when Jane woke up one morning in August to discover a text from the serial killer, it didn't surprise him that much**. **After watching the recording that he'd left for him, a part of him had almost expected it to happen.

It didn't stop the panic from bubbling up in his chest as he tore off to find Cho and tell him what happened.

He couldn't lose her.

He just couldn't.

For all the same reasons he had made her promise not to fall in love with him in the first place.

He would never be able to live with himself if she was murdered. It would be a senseless death just because he had allowed himself to feel something more than he should have. And he didn't want her to die without knowing that she was loved in return, that the only reason for the secrecy and the control was because he had wanted to keep her safe.

He tried not to think about what he hadn't said as he sat next to Van Pelt, clinging to her hand while she whispered aloud prayers that they would find Lisbon alive and well.

And he echoed her amen, looking for some semblance of comfort from a God that he didn't believe in.

**.**

They found her a little bruised and battered and murmuring repeated apologizes to Jane. Gale Bertram was barely a foot away from where she was kneeling. He was bleeding out from the stomach, his eyes glazed over with death.

Jane knew it should have mattered to him that Lisbon had taken away his revenge. But he couldn't bring himself to be angry as he fell to his knees and gathered her up in his arms, clutching her tightly to his chest. All that really mattered to him was that Lisbon was okay, and he had gotten another chance to make things right between them.

He wasn't going to waste another precious minute.

**.**

"I love you," Jane confessed as they sucked on fudgecicles and walked around a duck pond a couple of Saturdays after they'd found her.

A thrill of excitement filled her from the tips of her fingers all the way down to her brightly colored toes. But she took a deep breath, managing not to let him know that she was in anyway affected by his announcement. She looked at him, trying to be stern. "You're breaking a promise," she said.

"What promise?" He asked, frowning slightly.

"That promise about not falling in love with me," she whispered.

"I'm doing no such thing! I _never_ promised not to fall in love with you," Jane answered. "You're the one breaking _your _promise. In fact, you broke it exactly one year after you made it."

"Oh, I did not!" Lisbon retorted.

"You _did_," Jane answered, laughing as he caught her free hand in his and held onto it tightly.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't I know about it?" She challenged, looking at him with sparkling green eyes. "I could have sworn that I only fell in love with you the past two years."

"You just realized what was there all along the past two years," Jane corrected.

"Oh really? And what about you Mr. Know-it-all, when did you first realize you loved me?" Lisbon asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Believe it or not, it was the first day that we met."

"How—"

But Lisbon didn't get a chance to finish her question. Somehow his lips had found her's in the span of a few seconds. She decided that she could get used to sticky kisses in the park, used to the smell of his aftershave and the way the world seemed to stop when he touched her. She could get used to impromptu _I love yous_ and anything else Jane had in store for her.

It was all she had wanted the nights that she was lying in bed, thinking about him. Wishing that Red John wasn't a factor in their lives.

After a moment, she kissed him in return, tangling her fingers in his hair and tightening her grip on his hand.

And for the first time, she didn't regret breaking her promise to him.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**I barely know what this was or if it fits the quote. I've been busy cleaning the house, so I've been writing this in snatches. I'd love to hear what you think about it. Feedback is always encouraging to me. **

**Until next time!**

**Holly, 5/14/2013_ **


	22. Unless You're Sure

**Story 22 – Unless You're Sure**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**Brown Eyes Parker**

**Rated: K+**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. **

**.**

"**We've been on the edge of this so many times before; don't take me there unless you're sure."**

**Downton Abbey_**

"I love you," he whispered, breaking the silence between them.

She looked at him, her green eyes serious in the dim attic light. "Don't say that. _Please_ don't say that again."

"Why?" He asked. "Why shouldn't I say it? I know you feel the same way about me."

"I don't want to get my hopes up just to have them dashed. Do you know what it feels like? To have somebody tell you that you love them and then to have them act like it never happened? I'm sorry; I just never want to experience _that_ feeling again."

"But—"

"But," she interjected. "If you _have _to say it make sure you won't take it back. We've been dancing around this for ages. We've been so close to something like this before, I don't want to go there unless you're sure this time."

"I do mean it this time," he answered. "I'm not going to take it back, I promise."

"You might take it back in the morning," she said. "After you realized you told me that you loved me in an adrenaline pumped, Red John free moment."

"_Never!"_ he insisted as he stepped closer to her. "The only reason I ever took it back, the only reason I've resisted broaching the subject again is because the timing was never right. Even when the timing _was_ right, it wasn't. He was always there in the shadows, waiting to destroy the one thing in my life that made me the most happy. I couldn't risk it. And yes, I know that makes me a coward, I know that it makes me unworthy of you. But I am begging you to give me a chance to prove myself worthy of you. I am begging you to give me another chance that I don't deserve."

She sighed and shook her head as he caught her hands with his and intertwined their fingers. "You have to promise me that it's for real this time. You have to promise me that you won't take it back in the morning and that it'll be forever. Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you and _only_ you."

He nodded sincerely, his eyes serious. "I promise it with all my heart."

"Good," she whispered, standing on tip-toe to give him an experimental first kiss. After a moment, she pulled away and smiled up at him. "By the way, I love you too."

He laughed and then brought her in for another long overdue kiss.

It was time to make up for lost time.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry about the length and that I haven't been around in a while. But between my crazy vacation (it's a really long story), coping with Cory Monteith's death (sue me, I was a HUGE fan), and some adventures in between all this, I have barely had time to sit down and write anything. On top of that, I've caught a bad case of writer's block. So, I'd love to hear what you thought about this flashfic. I promise it'll be longer next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 7/28/13_**


	23. What Ifs And Realities

**Story 23 – "What Ifs" and Realities**

**A Jane/Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Guest, Totorsg, Jane Doe51, AngryLittlePrincess, Marcia Santos, Frogster, Lothlorien Aeterna, and Wldwmn for their feedback on story 22.**

**Author's Note:**

**This kicks off 1 of 7 stories that I will be writing for this collection. It's been a while since I've posted for "That's How It Should Be", so I am going to give it some much needed attention. Like always, I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. If I did, I would be Nora Ephron or Bruno Heller. Seeing that I am younger than both these fabulous entertainers, it is safe to say I am not them. **

**Rated: K+**

**.**

"**I would have asked for your number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling you and saying 'Hey. . . how about. . . oh how about some coffee, or you know, drinks or dinner or a movie. . . for as long as we both shall live?"**

**You've Got Mail_**

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we had met under different circumstances? If I had never come to the CBI, if Red John had never existed?" Jane asked Lisbon one stormy afternoon they were holed up at the office.

Lisbon looked up from her crossword puzzle and she nodded. "I imagine that you'd be in Malibu living in your mansion by the sea with your wife and all of your beautiful kids. You'd be dressed to the nines in Givenchy suits and Ralph Lauren silk ties, and if we ever passed on the street you wouldn't think about looking at me twice."

Jane gave her an odd sort of smile. "That's not what I meant, Lisbon. I know that's what life would be like if Red John had never taken away my family. I was talking about what would have happened if we had met even before I fell in love with my wife."

"Now you're just being silly," Lisbon said, smiling fondly at him. "You loved your wife since you were a little boy, the chances of you meeting me and falling in love with me are—"

"If we had just met randomly one day at the carnival or in town, I would have asked for your phone number," Jane interjected.

"I'm sure you would have," Lisbon replied indulgently.

"And I wouldn't have waited 24 hours to call you—"

"Now you're just quoting a silly romantic comedy."

"Contrary to whatever you believe, I am being very sincere," Jane answered as he grinned at her. "I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours to call you. When you're in the carnival, you're there one day and gone the next. I would have called you right away and asked you to go and get a cup of coffee."

"Or drinks? Or dinner, or maybe a movie, for as long as we both should live?" Lisbon finished for him, putting her pen down and looking at him, her green eyes a mixture of seriousness and amusement.

"Something like that," he agreed.

"Why are you even thinking about that?" Lisbon asked.

"Oh come on Lisbon, don't tell me that you _haven't_ imagined what life would have been like if we had met before I had married my wife."

"Sometimes," Lisbon admitted. "But I couldn't ever wrap my mind around the fact that you would fall in love with me when you had loved your wife for your whole entire life. I couldn't try and comprehend the fact that you would fall in love with a practical stranger."

The silence that followed was awkward and too loud. They both stared at each other, unsure of what to say next. And then, Jane broke the silence.

"You know, I did fall in love with you almost as soon as we met. I just. . . I couldn't bring myself to tell you, I didn't know how. I'm still not sure if I'm doing it right, but I'm not going to keep my feelings for you a secret anymore. I want dinner and drinks and movies and coffee for as long as we both shall live."

Lisbon shook her head. "Oh Jane, what do you think it is we have right now?"

"But it isn't permanent," Jane answered. "It could all be gone in a blink of an eye. You could meet somebody tomorrow who'd want to give you all that and more, and I can't let that happen without telling you what I want for us."

Lisbon smiled. "Believe it or not, I'm not going anywhere tomorrow. For the foreseeable future, I am all yours."

"See," Jane said. "I don't just want the foreseeable future. I want the parts that we can't see, the years when we are older and a lot grayer. Please say that we can have all that. . . please Lisbon. I know I have asked a lot from you over the years, but if you give me this one last thing I will never ask anything else of you ever again."

She raised an eyebrow. "Ever?"

"You have my word," Jane answered, getting up from the couch and going over to her, he put his hands on her armrests and rested his forehead against her's. "All you have to do is say that you'll be mine for the rest of your life, and I will be attentive to you until my dying day."

Lisbon closed her eyes and sighed, she would have never imagined in a million years that a silly question could lead to a deep conversation; to the subject of changing a relationship that she thought would be stuck in the same old cycle for the rest of her life. It was something she had always wanted, but now that it was happening she had no idea how she was going to face it.

"I need to finish up some work here," she heard herself saying as she opened her eyes and pushed him away gently. "Meet me at the park in one hour."

"Okay," Jane agreed quietly, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "See you soon."

**.**

An hour later, she was walking towards Jane in a dimly lit park; her heart was beating wildly in her chest. Just one more step, and everything would be different between them. There would be no more dancing around the subject of what they were, there would be no more pretending that they were just friends. One more step and they would be face-to-face, she would have to address what he had said in her office.

"You actually came, I almost thought you were trying to get rid of me back there," Jane said, standing up to greet her.

Lisbon didn't answer him, didn't have any words to say even though she had taken the hour to rehearse what she was going to say to him. She chewed her lip for a second and then courage surged through her veins, causing her to rise to her tip-toes and place her hand on the back of his head. She didn't take time to gauge his reaction before leaning in to kiss him on the mouth.

"Is that a yes?" Jane asked as he pulled away a few seconds later.

"Yes," Lisbon answered, not even thinking about it for a second longer. "I want coffee and drinks and dinners and movies for as long we both shall live with you. I want the foreseeable future and the times that we can't see, I want the gray years and everything in between. I love you too. I've loved you for almost as long as I've known you."

Jane smiled at her. "Oh, how I hoped you were going to say that."

Then, he leaned in and kissed her again. And neither of them said anything else for a very long time.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**I am going to be completely honest here. Right now a lot of things Mentalist related are killing my spirit and I think it is affecting my writing, so if this was sub-par, please let me know and I will try better next time. On a side note, starting today I am going to avoid ALL spoilers and let the season unfold on its own. In the meantime, drop a line and give me some feedback on this story. "You've Got Mail" is one of my ALL time favorite movies. **

**See you all soon.**

**Love,**

**Holly, 9/3/2013_**


	24. Twice Two Good

**Story 24 – Twice Two Good**

**A Jane/Angela and Jane/Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, Wldwmn, Jane Doe51, Frogster, and Marcia Santos**

**Rated: K+**

**Disclaimer:**

**Nothing belongs to me, except for this cold I've caught.**

"**If you're ever with a girl who's too good for you, marry her."**

**Valentine's Day_**

"You should ask her to marry you Patrick," Pete suggested as they raked away leftover popcorn and picked up discarded cups.

"I can't do that," Patrick Jane retorted as he tossed a cotton candy stick in a trash can.

"And why ever not?" Pete asked, leaning against his broomstick and looking at him seriously.

"Because. . . because she's too good for me. Angela Ruskins and her family are practically carnival royalty. My father and I have been kicked out of too many carnivals to name because he doesn't get along with other people. And aside from all _that_, I'm just a five-dollar liar, a pretend boy wonder. There is no way she would ever go for me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, my boy. I see the way she looks at you, the way you can make her laugh. She likes you a lot too. I think you should tell her how you feel, take your friendship to the next level. Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised by what happens next. Come on Patrick, you're a brave boy and bright to boot. She might be _too_ good for you, but you are at least good _enough_ for her."

Jane smiled boyishly. "You're not just saying that because you're supposed to, are you Pete?"

"Of course not!" Pete assured him, patting the younger boy on the back as he passed him. "Contrary to whatever is going on in that young head of yours, you really are good enough for her."

"Thanks Pete," Jane said. "I'll think about what you said."

A few weeks later, he found Angela sitting outside her family's trailer while she mended a faded pair of her brother's jeans. He watched her from a distance for a moment and then he walked towards her, he could hear his heart beating in his ears as he got closer to her.

"Hey Patrick," she said as she laid her sewing down in her lap and smiling at him when he was standing right in front of her. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm okay," Jane answered, tugging at the collar of his button-down, plaid shirt. "It's kind of hot today, isn't it?"

Angela shrugged. "There's a nice breeze, so it's not so bad. Besides, it's one of the last warm days we'll have. The colder weather is going to be coming sooner than you know it and then you'll be complaining about having to take care of the elephants in the snow. You always do."

Jane shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So, what can I do for you today?" Angela asked, as she pushed the needle through the cuff of the jeans and sewed a straight stitch. "Got any mending for me to do while I have my sewing kit out?"

"No," Jane answered. "No sewing. . . actually, I was just wondering if you'd like to take a walk with me after the carnival's over for the evening."

Angela looked up at him, her blue eyes twinkling in the afternoon sunlight. "Patrick Jane, are you asking _me_ on a date?"

"I guess I am," Jane replied, smiling at her. "So, what do you say? Maybe we could find a place that's open late and get a bite to eat after we take our walk. . . that is, only if you _want_ to. . ."

Angela laughed and then nodded. "I would _love _to go out with you tonight. Took you long enough to ask me out. I was going to do it myself if you didn't speak up soon."

Jane looked at her in surprise. "Really Angela?"

She nodded again. "Really, I've liked you ever since you and your father joined our carnival. The only person I could see myself being with is you. So, if you really are serious about going for a walk and a bite to eat tonight, you better meet me at the carnival entrance by ten 'o clock, _sharp_."

"I'll be there," Jane promised.

"Good," Angela said, her smile growing just a little bit. "I'm looking forward to it."

**.**

Angela was waiting for him at the entrance just like she said she would be. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her leaning against the gate. Her hair was out of its usual two braids, and she was wearing a floral dress and a sweater that he had never seen on her before. And he knew that she had gotten all dressed up just for him. A shiver of excitement ran down his spine and caused him to pick up his pace, not wanting to keep her waiting a second longer.

"There you are! I trust you have a good reason for being. . ." she paused and glanced at her worn wristwatch. "Two minutes late."

"Had to do a private consultation with a woman who thinks her husband's cheating on her," Jane answered easily. "I tried to get away, but she wouldn't let me go until I told her exactly what she wanted to hear."

"And what was that? That her husband _isn't_ cheating on her?" Angela asked, allowing him to take her hand and intertwine their fingers.

"Well, he isn't. She wanted to hear that he _was_," Jane replied. "She's just looking for some excuse to divorce him. I couldn't tell you why though; she was very difficult to read."

"Well, I'm glad you're finally here. I was beginning to think that you'd forgotten all about me or decided that I wasn't worth your time after all—"

Jane shook his head and stopped to look at her. "Oh Angela, I would _never_ change my mind about you. I've dreamed about you every night since we joined this carnival. You are the only person that I could see myself with."

"You're not just saying that because I said it first, are you?" Angela asked, looking up at him seriously.

"No," Jane answered. "I would have still said it even if you never had."

He kissed her then, not caring if it was only just the first date. He wanted her to know. . . _needed_ her to know just how serious he was about her. This was the only way he knew how to convey it, he didn't think she would listen any other way.

"Wow. . ." Angela whispered when they pulled away. "You've done this before, haven't you?"

"No," Jane told her. "I've just watched other people do it, if the Ferris Wheel is positioned right when we set up camp, you can have a great view of the whole carnival. I've seen a lot of passionate necking in my day."

Angela laughed and started to pull him along with her as she started to walk again. "Come on, it's getting late and I'm starved."

They walked into town and found a little convenience store that was open 'round the clock. They bought a large bag of potato chips, two sodas, day old Sandwiches, and chocolate-flavored Little Debbie cakes. While Angela was paying for their purchases, Jane slipped 50 cents into the gumball machine and bought a fake diamond ring.

He promised himself that one day in the future, he would replace it with the real thing. That he would buy her the largest diamond money could buy, but for tonight he hoped that she would be content with a little bit of glass and metal that would probably turn her finger green.

They were married three days later in a quaint little church. The pastor conducting the ceremony for two looked at them like they were crazy; even so Jane didn't find the need to explain why he was marrying the beautiful girl by his side. He'd let him think that he'd gotten her pregnant, and he was trying to do right by her. The man wouldn't be able to understand the ration or the reason behind getting married so young.

After all, he had never been lucky enough to find that one girl who was just too good for him.

**.**

_Years later. . ._

"She's too good for you, you know."

Jane frowned. "Who are you talking about Pete?"

"Why Pepper of course!" Pete replied, cocking his head over in Sam and Lisbon's direction. "Who else would I be talking about? As far as I know, she is the only woman in your life. Right?"

"Yes Pete," Jane answered, taking a sip of his cheap beer. "She's the only woman in my life right now."

"You should marry her," Pete said abruptly.

Jane choked on his drink and blinked rapidly. "What?"

"I said that I think you should marry her," Pete repeated. "Remember what I told you a few years ago? When you find a girl that's too good you need to marry her. Well, Pepper's definitely too good for you. You need to marry her, you need to marry her _now_."

"I-I-I can't _just_ marry her!" Jane sputtered.

"What's stopping you?" Pete asked. "That man who has made your life a living hell the past ten years or so is finally out of the picture. You should marry her, she loves you. I can tell by the way she looks at you. And you love her too; I haven't seen your eyes light up this much since Angela Ruskins."

Jane shook his head. "I can't do it Pete. I can't give myself to somebody again. It'll only mean heartache in the end."

Pete threw his head back and laughed a little too loudly. "You foolish, foolish boy! Can't you see? You've already given yourself away again. You're incredibly lucky, you know. Most men don't ever find a second woman who's too good for them, let alone _one_. But then again, you always were a lucky child."

"Pete. . ." Jane started, toying with the amber colored bottle in his hands. "What if I'm not what she wants?"

"Again with the stupid talk," Pete said. "Of course _you're_ what she wants. She's seen the worst side of you and yet, she didn't run away. In fact, she's here wasting a valuable Saturday afternoon with _your_ people when I'm sure there's a million other things. . . _better _things she could be doing with her time. You made magic once a long time ago, I'm certain that you can do it one more time."

**.**

"Did you enjoy yourself this afternoon?" Jane asked as they drove back to her apartment later that day.

Lisbon nodded. "I did. Thank you for letting me tag along with you. It was pretty nice seeing Pete, Sam, and the baby again. Especially since it was under different circumstances than the last two times we all met. So, what were you and Pete talking about? It looked pretty serious. . ."

"It was. . ." Jane trailed off, thinking about brushing the question off. Thinking about telling her that it was nothing and being done with it, but something pushed him to tell the truth. "It was about you."

Lisbon frowned. "About me? What do you mean, it was about _me_?"

Jane tried to laugh, but it came out more like a choke than anything else. "Pete has gotten into his head that I should marry you."

"Marry me?" Lisbon asked, her frown deepening. "Why on earth would he say anything about you marrying me?"

"It just has something to do with something he told me a long time ago. He seems to think the concept still applies here. I told him that there was no way you and I could get married. That we haven't even dated yet."

"We haven't?" Lisbon asked.

Jane looked at her. "Well, we haven't. . . unless you called all those shared ice cream Sundaes and late dinners in the office dating."

"Don't forget the CBI events we were always required to attend," Lisbon reminded him. "If I recall correctly, most times you'd pick me up and afterwards you would drop me off again. We've spent more Thanksgivings together then I can count, and then there were the lunches and the walks. The late night texts, and the way you'd call me first thing in the morning just to hear my voice—"

"Just to make sure you were okay," Jane corrected.

"Then there were the TCM movie marathons on rainy afternoons," Lisbon continued like she had never been interrupted. "You always made sure to bring my favorite ice cream. And you were the one who went with me to all the big summer movie premiers the past ten years. We even have a song. Yes, it's true that we've never put a name to whatever it is between us. We never labeled each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. We hid behind big words like _platonic _and _just_ good friends, trying to lie to the whole world and to ourselves.

"I'm calling it now though, after the first couple of years together; we _weren't _just friends, and we _especially_ we're brother and sister. We loved each other, we were just too afraid to admit it."

Jane cleared his throat, slid one hand off the wheel and into Lisbon's. "Pete says that you're too good for me and that's why I should marry you. I think that he's right, you _are _too good for me and that's why I can't marry you. Lisbon, there are so many other things out there . So many other men who deserve you more than I do—"

"I don't want them though!" Lisbon insisted. "Don't feed me some bull line that _you_ don't even believe. Was it the other men who asked me to dance at a high school reunion? Was it the other men who thought I looked beautiful in the ugliest, pink bridesmaid dress? Was it the other men who didn't leave me when I was strapped to a bomb, or who said they would call me if they were dying? I want _you_ Patrick Jane, not some nameless man that I haven't met yet."

"Lisbon—"

"Please say that you'll have me," Lisbon whispered, intertwining their fingers, tightening her grip on his hand.

Jane sighed; all of the fight leaving him in one great swoosh. "I love you," he replied quietly, raising their joined hands to his lips and kissing it softly.

**.**

They were married in a small church ceremony a week later with their co-workers, Minelli, and Sam and Pete as their witnesses. The priest presiding over their vows couldn't quite grasp why they were getting married so quickly.

But it was okay, Jane knew that the man standing in front of him had _never_ been blessed enough to find just girl who was just too good for him.

And he had most certainly never gotten a second chance with a second girl who was just as good as the first one.

Patrick Jane was though, and he thought just maybe, he could try and explain it to the good father.

**_End_**

**Author's Notes:**

**I'd love to hear what you think about this one. I've wanted to write it since Valentine's Day, but I never felt like I had the right idea to do the quote justice. I finally came up with one though, I hope the story was as good as I thought it was.**

**Holly, 9/9/2013_**


	25. Three Months

**Story 25 – Three Months**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, tikismile, Wldwmn, Ilovetea, Jane Doe51, and Marcia Santos **

**Author's Note:**

**One of my favorite movies in this world is the 1995 version of Sabrina, I COULD NOT resist writing a story to a quote from it. **

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: **

**I own nothing Mentalist or Sabrina related, except for a long mane of dark curls that my dad and some other people insist makes me look a little like Julia Ormond.**

.

"**I think you know I love you."**

**Sabrina, 1995_**

It was all over.

Red John had been caught and killed. It was like it all happened in the blink of an eye, one minute the serial killer had Teresa Lisbon by the throat, a gun to her temple, the next he had crumpled to the ground like an old ragdoll. At the end of the day, Kimball Cho had been the hero, effectively taking the man's life and Patrick Jane's chance at revenge with a round of bullets to the chest.

Afterwards, when all the paper work had been processed and Cho had been cleared of any wrong doing, Jane and Lisbon had exchanged some harsh words. They hadn't meant really meant them, hadn't meant to yell and shout and swear at each other. But after years and years of avoiding each other they just didn't know how to gravity towards each other, how to give into the desires and the wishes that had been brewing for years.

The argument ended with Jane telling Lisbon that he was taking some time off and storming out of her office before she could say anything else or try and stop him. When he came back three months later, she was gone and some guy that he hadn't ever seen before had taken over her office.

**.**

"Lisbon," Jane said, turning around and looking at Cho. "Where is she?"

Cho shook his head. "She left the day after you did; she said that if _you_ could just take off then she could to. I haven't heard from her since. . . I'm sorry Jane."

Jane frowned. "Sorry? What do you mean _you're_ sorry Cho? You should be furious with me! You know that it is most likely _my_ fault she took off the way that she did."

"It isn't just _your_ fault," Cho answered. "You _both_ didn't handle things the way that you should have that night. What are you two so afraid of anyways? That there might actually be a life outside of Red John and the CBI? That you two could actually be the sort of people who make it work and go on to live sort of happily ever after? Or are you still not sure how to be something more after years and years of pretending to be nothing more than just two good friends"

Jane was shocked by how easily Cho had done a cold read him. It had been years since he'd been totally transparent, sure Lisbon had been able to pick up on things that were bothering him, but she had never been able to see straight through him, right to the root of the matter.

Cho nodded the consultant's silence as answer to enough to his battery of questions. "You know if you _really_ want to find Lisbon, her brothers probably know how to get in touch with her. I know you're in touch with Annabeth Lisbon on occasion, why don't you see if Tommy can give you any information on her whereabouts?"

"What if she doesn't want to see me?" Jane asked. "What if she has a lover and she's six months pregnant with his baby? What if I really screwed things up this time and I cannot fix the damage that I've created?"

"You are not the same man that I knew four months ago!" Cho said. "Where did all your bravado go? The Patrick Jane from a few months ago would not have worried about these things, you would have been on the elevator by now, arrogant enough to think you could get her back with your suave charm, a gift, and some well-placed words in a sentence. She would have been putty in your hands and you back in her good graces before the day had ended. That being said, what's stopping you from going to find her this time? What's stopping you from trying to fix things for once and for all between the two of you? Maybe she hasn't moved on yet, maybe she's somewhere in the world wishing you'd go and find her. Wishing you two could have just one more chance to make things work."

"Maybe—"

"Being down in the mouth and uncertain of things doesn't become you Jane," Cho interjected. "Just go and find her. Try and capture some happiness before you lose the final chance you have at it. We don't need you here right now, we've managed just fine the past three months without _either _of you here. I daresay that we'll be able to handle at least a couple of more weeks without your help."

Jane opened his mouth to say something else, to argue with the younger man. But he knew that it was useless. Once his mind was made up, he wouldn't be swayed otherwise. And he would give him the infamous Cho stare until he turned around and got on the elevator again.

Jane sighed. "Okay then, I'll go and try to find her."

Cho just managed to hide a triumphant smile. "I'm sure that you won't need it, but good luck man."

**.**

A few hours later, Annie was handing him a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. "Dad would kill me if he knew what I was doing. He's furious about the way things went down with you and Auntie Reese. But I think it's the right thing to do. You really love her, don't you? You have to because you wouldn't have driven all this way if you didn't."

"Yes," Jane answered after a long moment. "I really do love her."

"Then you have to tell her, okay?" Annie said, tucking her notebook away in her backpack and then standing on tip-toe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. She pulled away and smiled at him. "Good luck."

Jane watched Annie as she ran to catch up with her girlfriends and then he looked down at the address in his hands. He took a deep breath, asked the God that he didn't believe in for a little bit of courage and then got into his Citron, settling in for the long ride to the place written on the paper.

**.**

Lisbon finished washing her dinner dishes and sighed, the sun was starting to set, streaking the sky with gorgeous shades of pink and red and purple. It was the time of day when she would replay her last argument with Jane over and over again. She would rehash it down to the very last look he'd thrown her before storming out of her office and wish that things could have ended differently between them. She would wish for one more chance to make things right between them and try to breathe again.

But she had stopped breathing the second he had walked out of her door. It had been the moment she knew all her girlish fantasies of a life after Red John was gone forever. There wouldn't be any languid kisses by twilight or candlelit dinners. There'd only be a lifetime of regret because she had opened up to somebody a little too much, let somebody a little too closer than she'd ever let happen before.

Inspite of herself, she'd cried half the night away, only catching a couple hours of sleep when the pre-dawn gray had filtered through her half open shades. When morning had finally come, bringing brilliant sunshine in its wake, she had made up her mind to take some time off from life. She needed time to regroup, to let her heart heal, and get over bitter disappointment. It wouldn't happen at work, where he was still everywhere she turned with his scent still hanging in her office, his teacup sitting beside her favorite mug, and the ugly brown leather couch still a fixture in the bullpen.

Going away hadn't fixed anything though, she'd left her heart in Sacramento and there wasn't any getting it back. Not now, not ever. She was stuck, stuck repeating history in her head and daydreaming that maybe one day by some kind of miracle, Jane would show up on her doorstep and say things that he only said in her dreams.

She hung up the damp towel on the stove then pulled her hair out from its sloppy ponytail. She glanced outside at the sunset one more time and felt the old familiar tug at her heart. She was lonelier than she had ever been in her whole entire life. Lonelier than she'd been all the nights since she'd left Sacramento and rented this little house from a friendly old woman who lived across the street.

But still she waited, she waited for something that she didn't know was ever going to happen for real and for certain.

It was late when he finally got to the address Annie had given him. So late, he wasn't sure if he should go up and knock on her door. But the lights were still on in the living room and he could just make Lisbon out, sitting on the couch all by herself and reading a book.

He decided to just get things over with, to get the inevitable punch in the nose out and the apologizes out of the way so they would be able to move on and finally find each other after years of shying away from each other. He knew he was a little worse for the wear and he didn't have a peace offering of any kind, but he hoped she would overlook that and welcome him with open arms.

He got out of the car and little by little, he found himself heading towards the door. He hesitated only for a second before pressing the doorbell, and then he waited for what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds.

**.**

"Who is it?" She asked, her voice sounding a far away and a little sad all at the same time.

"It's. . . it's Jane," he answered, he bit his bottom lip and then sighed. "You remember me, right? I used to be your best friend. Listen, I think you know I love you. . . if you do would you please open the door—"

Lisbon opened the door and met his gaze, her green eyes were the same shade of sadness he'd seen in his own eyes whenever he'd looked in the mirror the past three months. "You have been the _only_ person on my mind these past three months. Kind of silly, isn't it? I came all this way to try and forget about you, but I only wound up thinking about everything I did wrong and hoping you'd come find me—"

Jane kissed her then, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I'm so sorry for everything," he whispered as he pulled away. "Could you ever forgive me?"

"Of course," Lisbon answered, her face lighting up with half a smile. "I'm sorry too. I should have handled things differently. I shouldn't have let you go so easily, I should have told you then. . . told you that I loved you and held onto you so tightly. Can you forgive _me_?"

Jane nodded, pushed her hair away from her face. "I love you," he said again.

Lisbon kissed him, her smile widening. "I love you too."

**_End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Whoo. I feel like I was just typing words there by the middle of the story. But I hope you liked it and that you will tell me what you thought about it in a review. **

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 9/17/2013_**


	26. The Prize Of One's Life

**Story 26 – The Prize Of One's Life**

**A Jane and Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Guest, Jane Doe51, AngryLittlePrincess, Wldwmn, Marcia Santos, and Totorsg **

**Guest, you must have gotten a hold of my notebook, because I AM planning to write a story to a quote from the Mirror Has Two Faces! **

**Author's Note: **

**The title of this story was taken from the beautiful "A Beautiful Mind" soundtrack, all credit goes to the amazing James Horner. **

**Rated: K+**

**Disclaimer: The sad truth is that I do not own anything related to the Mentalist or to A Beautiful Mind. I'm just a proud fangirl of both things.**

**.**

"**I am here tonight because of you. You are all I am, you are my reasons."**

**A Beautiful Mind_**

"Tonight, we are pleased to recognize one of California's most skilled consulting detectives for his work with the California Bureau of Investigation. Not only does his unit have the most closed cases on record, but he was instrumental in bringing down Bob Kirkland, one of our state's most notorious serial killers. Tonight, I am sorry to announce that we are losing a fine investigator; he has decided to leave detective work and breed bees or something like that. He will be sorely missed, and whoever we hire to replace him will have some mighty big shoes to fill. Patrick Jane, would you please come up here and accept this award?"

"Go on," the woman sitting next to the graying blonde urged in a low voice. "They're waiting for you."

After a moment, he stood and made his way to the front of the room. The crowd of federal and CBI agents that had gathered to honor the consultant broke into applause when he had made it on the stage, shaken hands with the mayor, and accepted the medal.

After taking a moment too collect himself, he released a deep breath and turned to face the roomful of people.

"On the eve of my retirement, you have all come to honor me for all the work I've put into catching the bad guys and closing cases after all these years," he started. "Let me just start out by saying that the honor is all _mine_, that I have loved being of service to the fine state of California and seeing justice served is award enough. I do not need a medal or expensive champagne or a million thank yous from all the right people. In fact somebody once called me the Lone Ranger. Which, I guess in a way is true. . . if I had it my way, I _would_ go off into the sunset without giving people a chance to thank me. I have already had my fifteen minutes of fame, and I've paid dearly for it. I am overwhelmed by your gratitude, but if anybody deserves this award tonight it is Teresa Lisbon,

"She's the one who gave me a means to an end, she's the one who gave me a home when I didn't have one, she became my family when I lost one, and she saw the worst side of me and never left me even for a second," he stopped for a moment and sought her out in the crowd of terribly important people. He smiled and addressed only her. "I am only here tonight because of you. You are all I am, you are my reasons."

When he finished his speech, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. And then, Rigsby started to clap, effectively shattering the silence as everyone else joined in as Jane made his way back to his seat.

Lisbon looked at him when he had joined her again and shook her head. "Really Patrick, tonight is _your _night. What were you thinking bringing me up like that?"

"Telling the truth," Jane answered, smiling at her warmly. "If you hadn't taken me in all those years ago, I _wouldn't_ be here tonight. I owe you so much, I am so grateful to you. . . you deserve way more than a little mention in a speech that was presented to a few dozen people."

Lisbon touched his cheek affectionately. "You've already spent the last several years repaying me."

"I'd hardly say marrying you was repaying you for everything you did for me. In fact, some people might say it means I owe you double because you have to put up with me at work _and_ at home. You never get a break from the madness."

"Really, you don't owe me anything!" Lisbon insisted. "Marrying me really _was_ enough payment for everything you put me through all those years you were pursuing Red John. And the speech you made tonight was pretty sweet. Whatever debt you think you owe me has been paid in full."

Jane leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. "You, my dear, are too good to me."

"I know, you say it often enough," she replied, taking his hand. "Come on, let's get out of here. We've shaken enough hands for one night and I have stuff for ice cream sundaes in the freezer. What do you say to going home and having our own little celebration?"

Jane smiled at her. "That sounds like the best idea that I've heard all night long. I'll just go and tell Cho that we're leaving."

"I'll be waiting for you by the elevators then," Lisbon told him as she threw a flirtatious wink in his direction and scooped up their coats.

"You know what would make my retirement even better?" Jane asked a few minutes later.

Lisbon pressed the elevator button for the ground floor and took his hand. "What?"

"If you retired too," Jane answered. "The one thing I would love to do most in the world right now is travel the world with you. We're not getting any younger, you know and climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower isn't any fun when you have to do it with a cane or a walker."

"You know I can't retire," Lisbon told him. "You barely retired yourself; you agreed to come in when we needed help with the more difficult cases. Maybe one day in the future, when crime decides to take a break we can travel the world together."

"_You_ could barely retire," Jane said, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing it. "I'd settle for long weekends in New England to begin with.

"Maybe next year," Lisbon replied as the elevator doors rolled open and she pulled him out, starting for the Citroen without saying anything else.

He stopped her and framed her face with his hands. "I'm going to keep you to that," he told her before kissing her again, this time it was a little less chase than before.

"I said _maybe_," Lisbon whispered breathlessly. "You can't hold me to _anything_."

Jane smiled and kissed her again. "We'll just see about that."

**_End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**This story completely got off track, so I didn't know what to do with it in the end. I'm not too pleased with the end result, but I hope **_**you**_** liked it. If you did, please drop a line and tell me.**

**See you next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 10/1/2013_**


	27. Unsolicited Advice

**Story 27 – Unsolicited Advice**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, tikismile, Wldwmn, Jane Doe51, make-mine-a-kiaora, Ilovetea, Frogster, and Marcia Santos**

**Rated: K+**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

**.**

"**It doesn't matter if the guy is perfect, or the girl is perfect as long as they're perfect for each other."**

**Goodwill Hunting_**

"So, now that your arch nemesis is gone, have you given any thought about moving on at all?" Brett Stiles asked Patrick Jane one sunny afternoon in September. "Finding a new girl, maybe trying to start a family?"

Jane hesitated for a moment and then he shrugged. "I guess I have thought about it a little bit."

Stiles grinned. "Do you have any particular in mind? If not, the fetching agent Lisbon would make an ideal person to move on with. Wouldn't you agree Patrick?"

"She's lovely," Jane said, getting a far off look in his eyes. "But she's. . . she's just not for me, Brett. She deserves somebody who can give her the whole entire world if she wanted it."

"What does that matter?" Brett asked. "It doesn't matter if the girl is perfect or if the boy is perfect. All that matters is if they are perfect for each other. I stole that straight out of a movie, you know. Still there is some wisdom in the words, don't you think?"

"Sure," Jane agreed half-heartedly.

"Come on now, don't you think she would take you if you asked?"

"I _know_ she'd take me if I asked," Jane answered. "That's Lisbon for you though; she's always trying to fix everything. Even when it just _can't_ be fixed!"

"Oh, I think that it would be more than that!" Brett protested. "I've seen you two together, the way she looks at you Patrick. . . well, I think that it's safe to say that she wants to do more than merely fix you. You're always thinking with your head, aren't you?"

Jane frowned. "Why are you even here Brett?

"I'm just checking in, making sure you're keeping your word in a post-Red John world and that you're at least making an effort to move on. It's a good thing I did, it looks like even after all these months you're still stuck in neutral and going nowhere fast. Haven't you gotten that there's no need to be driven by your mad need for revenge? Your arch nemesis is gone and he's not coming back. Stop dwelling on the past."

"And how do you suggest I do _that_!?" Jane asked. "Do you want me to get religion and join your church? Is this how you recruit people for your cult? Do you come to them when they are at their most vulnerable and tell them how they can finally find peace?"

Brett laughed. "Like I could ever get _you_ to join Visualize! Even when you are at your weakest, there is no way I could persuade you to join my way of life. I only wanted to give you a bit of friendly advice."

"Your advice is neither friendly nor solicited," Jane told him. "Now if you would please leave me alone, I have important things to do."

Brett nodded. "I'll leave you to your Keats and Byron then, I'm sorry that I bothered you. I was only coming from a place of concern for both you and Agent Lisbon."

"Thank you for your concern," Jane answered. "But I can assure you that we are both perfectly fine."

"Whatever you say," Brett replied with a little smile. "Goodbye Patrick, allow me to wish you all the luck in the world."

Jane nodded and buried his nose in his book, not even bothering to say goodbye as the older man left him alone again.

A few days later though, Brett Stiles 'advice' was playing over and over again in his head causing him to miss small details and clues he usually picked up on immediately. All he could think about was the suggestion that Lisbon was perfect for him, and he in turn was perfect for her.

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that _he _was perfect for somebody. Especially when that somebody was the saintly Teresa Lisbon, the woman who's life he had made completely crazy for a little over a decade. In his wildest imaginations, he had let himself dream that something _could_ happen between them, but he had never really allowed himself to commit to the idea that he could have a life outside of Red John, that he'd actually be able to move on with his feisty, petite best friend.

**.**

"You've been off your game all day," Lisbon said after everyone had gone home for the night. She sat down at the end of her couch and pulled his feet onto her lap. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jane opened one eye and peered at her, trying to ignore the way her hand felt on his leg. "It's nothing, really. I'm just a little distracted today; I promise that I'll be same old self by tomorrow."

"What's gotten you so distracted today?" Lisbon asked. "Is it a girl?"

"Maybe it's a girl," Jane answered, noting the way she stiffened slightly at his reply. "Would it bother you if it was?"

"No of course not," Lisbon lied. "Why should it bother me? I mean, I always thought it would be a good idea if you moved on eventually."

"I wasn't actually wasn't thinking about a girl," Jane told her. "I was thinking about something Brett Stiles said to me a few days ago."

Lisbon's raised an eyebrow. "You saw Stiles?"

"He wanted to check in, see how I was doing post-Red John. I'll be completely honest and say that I wasn't all that happy to see him. Especially because it seemed like all he wanted to do was lecture me about the way I should be living my life now that I don't have a serial killer breathing down my neck."

"I can imagine," Lisbon said, smirking at him. "You _hate _unsolicited advice."

"That I do," Jane agreed. "But that isn't to say that all unsolicited advice is bad, some of it can actually be pretty good."

"So, what was the great Brett Stiles advice then? It has to be good if you're taking into consideration."

"He seems to think I need to move on," Jane said.

Lisbon nodded. "That is good advice."

"He seems to think I need to move on with you," he continued.

"_That_ is even better advice," she replied, smiling at him. "If I were you, I'd take that particular advice."

Jane sat up and met her gaze. "But do you really want me?" he asked.

"Yes," Lisbon answered sincerely. "Yes, I do want you. I think you and I were meant to find each other our whole lives. That everything in our pasts, everyone else we ever met or loved was preparing us for the day that we met. I think that I'm perfect for you and you, _you_ for some crazy reason, are perfect for me. Nothing else matters after that."

"I-I. . ." Jane hesitated and took a deep breath. "I'm not sure that I know how to move on. I've spent so many years stuck—"

"It's okay," Lisbon told him as she took his hands and looked at him straight in the eyes, causing his heart to give a great thump. "I'll help and one day, one day I'm sure you'll get there."

And she was right.

**_End_**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

**This story came to me when I had a cold a few weeks ago and couldn't sleep. I put on the Mentalist season 4, and the first episode that played was "His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts". While I kept my eyes closed and tried not to cough, this thing formed in my mind because I already had the quote, I just needed a plot. It isn't exactly what I wanted it to be, but I wanted to get this story posted quickly and before Stiles either dies or is revealed to be Red John. Hope you guys enjoyed this little one-shot! Tell me your thoughts in the little box below. **

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 10/4/2013_**


	28. Questions & Answers

**Story 28 – Questions & Answers**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Rated: T**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, Marcia Santos, AngryLittlePrincess, and Wldwmn**

**Author's Note:**

**The LBD is going to be out on DVD, so I decided that it counted as a movie. Besides, the quote fits Jane & Lisbon PERFECTLY! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own one single thing. The title is lame, but I couldn't think of anything else even though I tried REALLY hard to!**

**.**

"**I was in the middle before I knew I had begun."**

**The Lizzie Bennett Diaries_**

"When did you know you loved me?" Teresa Lisbon asked him on one of their frequent rambles in the park.

"When you took a chance on me and asked me to help with the case you were working on," Patrick Jane answered.

But this answer wasn't sufficient enough for the feisty brunette.

"When did you know you loved me?" Lisbon asked again.

"The first time I ever hugged you," Jane replied, threading his fingers through her's.

Lisbon shook her head, less satisfied with this answer than she was with the one before. "When did you know you loved me?"

"The first time I saw you wearing those expensive emeralds," Jane said, smiling at the memory. "They _really_ did look lovely with your eyes."

Lisbon flushed with pleasure, the compliment still worked for her years later. But at the same time she didn't believe _that_ was the very moment he had realized he loved her. So, she asked again, "When did you realize you loved me?"

"It had to be the moment you went against Minelli and came to help me investigate the Red John case."

"Nope, I don't think it was then," Lisbon answered. "When did you realize you loved me?"

"That time when I was temporarily blind and I felt your smile."

Lisbon shook her head. "When did you realize you loved me?"

"When Hardy almost killed you," Jane replied. "I was so afraid that I was going to lose you. . ."

"It couldn't have been then," Lisbon said. "I mean, I was still a means to an end then. Wasn't I?"

"Regardless of what you thought when we first met, regardless of what I did to you or the stupid, stupid things I said back then you were _never_ a means to an end," Jane told her. "Don't ever say anything like that again. . . don't ever _think_ anything like that ever again."

Lisbon looked taken aback for a moment and then she recovered. "When did you realize you loved me?"

"The second time that I hugged you, after you gave me a second chance and welcomed me back to the team."

"When did you realize you loved me?" Lisbon asked, still not convinced.

"The night I asked you to dance and you said yes."

"But it couldn't have been then though," Lisbon argued. "That's when you and Kristina Frye met up again, that's when you asked her out. . . you were attracted to her. . . when did you realize you loved me?"

"After I realized you had slept with Walter Mashburn."

"Whatever you thought you felt for me after _that _happened, couldn't have been love though! You probably just wanted me because you couldn't have me. When did you realize you loved me?"

"When I thought you were going to be blown up to pieces by that bomb," Jane replied. "When I saw you wearing that awful pink bridesmaid's dress, when O' Laughlin shot you. Does that satisfy you?"

"When did you realize you loved me?"

"When we shared that ice cream sundae on the CBI rooftop."

Lisbon shook her head. "When did you realize you loved me?"

Jane took her head and released a deep breath. "Every single day I spent away from you during my stint in Vegas, when I wanted you to be the one to bail me out of jail after I got arrested, the first time Lorelei kissed me, the first time I saw you after we'd been apart for one-hundred-and-eighty-two days. And after that when I told you I loved you and we hugged. I loved you when you asked me if I remembered what I had said, I loved you when I lied about forgetting what I had said. I loved you the second you let me reach for your hand in the dessert."

"When did you realize you loved me?" Lisbon asked, fighting off the emotions that had started to creep up on her

"When Lorelei pointed it out to me and I lied about staying with the CBI just to pass time. I realized I loved you when you were so determined to catch Volker all by yourself, and I realized I loved you when you asked for my help to get him. I loved you when we found Diandra Sunderland singing "Every Time We Say Goodbye" and I loved you when you found out what LaRoche's secret was and you didn't tell anybody. I loved you when you said you needed my help, and when I said our relationship was just platonic and I loved you when I found out that you were up late thinking about me."

"When did you realize you loved me?" Lisbon pressed.

"When you made me watch every season of _Downton Abbey_ even after Matthew Crawley had died, I realized I loved you the two years we were apart and when you asked me to stay after we were reunited."

"When did you realize you loved me?" She asked a little more quietly.

"Seriously?" Jane asked, stopping to look at her and taking her other hand.

"Seriously," Lisbon replied, smiling at him.

Jane leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I was in the middle before I knew I had begun."

Then before she got a chance to say anything else, he kissed her. She melted into him, savoring the taste of herbal tea and his favorite pastry, returning his kiss with everything she had in her.

"Now," Jane asked, pulling himself away from her with some great difficulty. "Tell me Agent Lisbon-Jane, when did _you_ realize that you loved _me_?"

Lisbon laughed. "Maybe it was the first time you walked into my life, you looked so sad and lonely. In the back of my mind, all I wanted to do was take care of you."

"When did you fall in love with me?" Jane repeated, a teasing grin breaking out on his beautiful face.

"It had to be that time you held my hair while I threw up when I had food poisoning," Lisbon answered. "I couldn't believe that you'd help out someone you barely knew."

Jane took her hand and started to walk with her again. "When did you realize you loved me?"

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Just something a little fluffy because I'm recovering from a sinus infection and because my baby sister was crying last night because of the spoilers, and because I promised this to a Twitter/tumblr friend before I went to see Thor tonight. Tell me what you think of this piece, I'd really love to hear your thoughts!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 11/8/2013_**

**P.S**

**I didn't get to see "Fire & Brimstone" on Sunday night. SO PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ANY SPOILERS! Thank you.**


	29. Always Watching, Never Reaching

**Story 29 – Always Watching, Never Reaching**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Author's Note:**

**Title is taken from "Wrapped In Red" by Kelly Clarkson.**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, virihu, pop301118, Jane Doe51, and AngryLittlePrincess**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, and I'm pretty sure the big gift my parents got me for Christmas isn't the rights to the Mentalist.**

**.**

"**Let me just say without hope or agenda, just because it's Christmas and at Christmas, you tell the truth. To me you are perfect and my wasted heart will always love you."**

**Love Actually_**

_Introduction_

He couldn't take it anymore; the secrets that he was keeping were about to make his heart burst. He _needed _to tell her. . . _needed_ to show her how he felt. But she was keeping him at arm's length, trying to prove that she didn't need him anymore. Trying to prove that she was so much better off without him in her life. He felt the distance acutely but he still wasn't ready to let her go. Not with a fight, not without saying all the things that needed to be said. If she rejected him, he'd accept it and finally try to move on.

Even if it was one of the hardest things he'd have to do.

**.**

Patrick Jane waited a second and then he knocked on her door. After what seemed like an eternity, Teresa Lisbon opened the door. It was now or never, time to make the courageous leap of faith and lay all of his cards on the table.

"Jane. . ."

"Don't say anything," he interjected. "I _need_ to tell you something."

"Jane, it's Christmas Eve. All my brothers are here with their families"

"This," he replied, "will only take a couple of minutes. Please Lisbon, I need to say something. Something I should have said a long time ago."

"Reese, who's at the door!?" Tommy called.

"Carolers!" Lisbon hollered back, she turned around and nodded. "Go on Jane."

Jane sighed and looked her straight in the eyes. "Before I say anything, let me tell you that I've come here tonight without any expectations. It's just that I've been keeping this a secret for so long. . . I _need_ to tell you, and Christmas Eve is a time to tell the truth. And the truth is Teresa, you're perfect and I will _always_ love you."

Lisbon looked at him in shock, completely startled by his revelation. It was like she had never suspected the truth, never realized that he loved her. "Jane—"

"Shhh!" He said. "You know the truth now. What happens next is up to you. If you reject me then I'll never bring up my feelings for you again. If you, by some miracle, love me in return then I will spend the rest of my life trying to be the kind of man that you deserve. I promise."

Lisbon was still reeling from his confession, but she collected herself enough to nod. Satisfied, he turned to leave. He was halfway down her driveway when what he had told her really sank in. Suddenly, she came to life.

"Patrick!" She shouted, running down the stairs to meet him, not caring that she was barefoot or the pavement was wet from the rain.

He turned around and looked at her, didn't say anything. The shoe was on the other foot now, it was time for _her_ to act. And act, she did. She caught up with him, searched his eyes for a moment and then kissed him.

It was the kind of kiss that spoke of true longing. It made time stand still and the whole world disappear into a quiet oblivion. Jane could taste the _Starbucks Holiday Blend_ on her lips and for the first time in over a decade, he felt unequivocally whole. When the need for air became overwhelming, she pulled away. She caught her breath and caressed his face with her fingertips.

"Because it's Christmas Eve and on Christmas Eve, you tell the truth. . . let me just say that I-I love you too," Teresa whispered. "That I will _always_ love you."

Jane choked, it sounded like a cross between a laugh and a cry. "That. . . _that_ is the best Christmas gift you could ever give me!"

Lisbon smiled at him and he leaned in to kiss her again. This time it was a little less serious than before, they were both happier than a pair of teenagers in love for the first time.

"I need to get back to my family," she said. "Are you coming in?"

"I'd hate to intrude—"

Lisbon laughed. "You're such a liar! Of course you want to intrude. But you wouldn't be intruding, not today at least."

"Well then, I guess I could cancel the other plans I had for this evening. They weren't very important."

"Good," Lisbon said, slipping her hand into his and kissing him again, reveling in the fact that he looked years younger than he had when she had first opened the door.

"Reese!" Tommy shouted. "Are you done with those carolers yet!?"

"I'll be right there!" Lisbon replied, turning to Jane and smiling at him hopelessly. "Come on, before my whole family comes out to see what's going on."

Jane nodded and allowed her to lead him back up to her house. He kissed her one more time, then she opened the door for him and he followed her inside, thankful that he was done loving her from afar, he was done never letting her see how he felt.

He'd finally let himself fall and it had been easy. It was going to be a very happy Christmas, the first one that he had had in a long time.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**This is my special gift to all my wonderful readers. I hope you have a Merry Christmas, I love you all and I am looking forward to another amazing year with you guys. Thank you for **


	30. Chances

**Story 30 – Chances**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, Jane Doe51, Ilovetea, Marcia Santos and Wldwmn **

**Disclaimer: I do not own one thing. If I did then there would be no such thing as Marcus Pike. **

_For daddy, my inspiration, one of my best friends and a fellow fan of the Mentalist and Jane & Lisbon. _

**.**

"**When it comes to love is it ever too late to take a second chance?"**

**Last Chance Harvey_**

It was too late.

The sight of Teresa Lisbon with somebody else tormented him almost as much as Red John had. The only thing he could think about was how he had missed out, how it was too late. He couldn't say anything to her now, couldn't let her know how he felt.

It was too late.

She would probably accuse him of trying to sabotage her relationship with a decent guy if he said anything to her. She'd ask him _why now. . ._ it would cause more trouble than it was worth, and he couldn't risk losing her friendship because he had suddenly decided that he wanted to be with her.

It was too late.

She was falling out of love with him and straight into love with somebody else. There weren't any more flirty smiles or stolen touches. He didn't bring her coffee anymore and he didn't coax her to laugh, they kept each other at arm's length, their status as each other's best friend quickly disintegrated as she became more and more involved with the handsome FBI agent, as she started to confide more and more in Kim Fischer. He watched, almost helplessly, as the only good dream he had had during the hellish ordeal that was Red John be flushed down the toilet.

It was too late.

These words tormented him as he lay awake at night, spending more time staring at the ceiling than he did sleeping. They made his whole world miserable and gray and lonely. He tried, for her sake, to put his best effort in. He tried and he failed miserably.

It was too late.

He had asked Abbott for a transfer, requested that he be allowed to finish out his sentence somewhere else. Somewhere that was far away from Lisbon and her new love, Marcus Pike. And from the past that always, _always_ seemed to come back to haunt him.

Abbott stared at him for a long second and when he realized that Jane was being serious, that he wasn't just trying to run away from his duties and his punishment, he granted him the request without asking any questions.

It was too late.

Texas suddenly seemed ten times smaller without him, the workplace a million times more lifeless. Lisbon stared at the empty space where his couch used to be and she knew, she that knew his absence from this branch of the FBI was all of her fault.

If she hadn't been trying to punish Jane by seeing Marcus, by completely shutting him out of her life then he would still be with her. They'd probably still be engaged in the same old song and dance of _would they or wouldn't they_, but all the same, they would be closer to getting together than they were now.

She sighed and rubbed her neck, turning back to her laptop and away from all the things that she had done wrong.

"I always wondered why you'd chosen me when it was so obvious that you loved him. That's why he's gone, isn't it?"

Lisbon looked up from her computer and shook her head. "He's just pouting because he didn't get his way. He'll be fine."

"Teresa," Pike said tersely. "We both know that isn't true. I might not be as smart as Patrick Jane, but I know that you love him. It's written all over your face, it always has been ever since the first day I met you. I was just hoping that I could. . . that it wasn't that serious, that maybe I could win you because you both hadn't named it."

"It's too late," Lisbon answered. "I chose you. I'm comfortable with my decision."

"I'm not. I do not want to spend the rest of my life wondering if it's his face that you see when we're kissing, if you're thinking about him and where he is when you're not talking to me. It isn't too late. It'll only be too late when one of you isn't here anymore."

Lisbon sighed. "I—"

Pike shook his head. "No more excuses. Go and find him, don't give him another chance to run away from you ever again."

**.**

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Jane sighed. "Because I knew what you would say to me and I didn't want to hear it."

Lisbon looked ashamed because she knew what she would have said too. Known what she would have done and all the horrible things she would have accused him of doing even though she had still been a free agent and he had every right to pursue her.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, even though she knew uttering that phrase wasn't enough.

"I thought it was too late," he said, looking at her like she was something from his dreams. "You were with Pike. . ."

Lisbon knelt down in front of him and reached up to touch his face. "It isn't too late though. Tell me what you would have said if I wasn't going to react badly to it."

"I was going to say. . ."

"Was going to say," she encouraged.

"Teresa, I know you might think it's too late for me to say this, but I love you. I've always loved you, I was just. . . I couldn't say anything because of Red John and then because I wasn't here. Then there was Marcus and it was too late. And I knew I should have said something a long time ago—"

Lisbon shook her head. "When it comes to love is it ever too late to take a chance?" she asked.

"Is it?" Jane answered, looking at her hopefully.

"In my experience, no it isn't ever too late to say anything, to do anything about it. Not until you're married or dead. But since neither of us are those things, I'd say that right now we have all the time in the world. I love you."

"You know I love you too," Jane replied.

Lisbon nodded and got to her feet, bringing him with her. "Yes."

Then she embraced him, holding on to him as tightly as she possibly could. Now that she had finally gotten a chance to be with him, she didn't think she was over going to let him go.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**Not my best effort, I will admit. But I have a nasty cold and I've been playing with this story for a while now, and I decided just to finish it and post it because everybody is getting tired of waiting during this hiatus and it has been a while since I posted anything. I've been avoiding writing anything Jane/Lisbon related because all the stuff I want to write is negative!Pike and I really don't want to fall into old habits of obsessing over stupid things like that. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story. As always I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a review if you want to tell me about them.**

**Holly. 2/23/2014_ **


	31. Secrets, Secret Relationships, and

**Story 31 – Secrets, Secret Relationships, and Revelations**

**A Jane & Lisbon and Cho & Fischer Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-outs: Totorsg, lili87, wisegirl71301, AngryLittlePrincess, , Jane Doe51, and Wldwmn**

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**.**

"**I love him and I don't care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is."**

**Jerry Maguire_**

Kim Fischer knew it was a bit early to be bothering Teresa Lisbon, but she needed to talk with somebody about the discovery she had made during the past few days.

She had broken her carnal rule when it came to relationships and fallen for Kimball Cho. She had wanted to tell him but every time she was going to say something, the words got stuck in her throat and she found herself at a loss for words. And she wasn't that kind of person; she always knew exactly what to say. She was always upfront and honest, sometimes brutally so. And when she wanted something, she went out and got it. . . she would fight for it until it was her's, not caring what other people thought of her ambitions and desires. Being ruthless was how she'd gotten to the top at the FBI.

She didn't know the person she was with Cho. She didn't know what it was about him that prohibited her from completely being herself with him.

Fischer sighed and knocked on Lisbon's apartment door, she hoped a conversation with her friend would help her find the courage she was looking for. The courage to finally tell Cho how she felt about him or maybe the courage to set him free and move on, to find somebody new, somebody that she wouldn't love.

Lisbon opened the door, looking sleepy and wearing an oversized button-down shirt. "Kim! What are you doing here so early!? We don't have a case, do we?"

"Not that I know of," Fischer replied. "I just wanted to talk to somebody. You probably already know that I don't have a lot of girlfriends and I thought. . ."

"I understand," Lisbon answered. "I don't have many friends either. It comes with the job description. Do you want to come in? I just put a pot of coffee on."

Fischer took Lisbon's appearance in and pursed her lips. She knew just by looking at her that she was entertaining company of the male variety. And if the dress shirt was anything to go by, it was Patrick Jane. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be intruding," Lisbon answered.

"Teresa, I'm a detective. I know you spent the night with Patrick Jane."

Lisbon froze, looking almost exactly like a kid who had gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And then she smiled, almost puffing out her chest with pride. "I wore him out pretty good," she said. "He probably won't be awake for a couple of hours yet."

"And he'll most likely be looking for you when he finally does wake up," Fischer replied. "Like I said, I'm a detective. I can tell you, you're not just a one-time thing for him. You should just turn around and get your butt back in bed. We can worry about my problems later."

"Your problems?" Lisbon repeated, grabbing Fischer's wrist. "What do you mean your problems, Kim? Is something the matter?"

"Not really," Fisher answered, sighing. "Maybe, it depends on what _you_ define as a problem."

"Okay," Lisbon said, blowing her hair out of her face and dragging the taller agent inside. "I'm not taking _no_ for an answer. You're going to sit down and tell me what's bothering you. Like I said, Patrick will probably sleep for a few hours. Maybe I can get your issues ironed out before he wakes up looking for me."

"Really, I don't mind waiting—"

"Kim, you took time out of your Saturday – a day we usually have off if we're lucky – to see me. And now you're telling me that there isn't anything wrong? I hardly believe it. You wait here and make yourself at him. I'm just going to pop into my bedroom and put something on that's a little more appropriate."

Fisher watched her petite friend disappear down the hall and then did what she was told, finding her way to the living room. A few minutes later, Lisbon returned wearing skinny jeans, Jane's shirt, and her hair up in a messy bun.

"I'm going to get the coffee," Lisbon said. "I'll be right back."

Pretty soon, they were both seated across from each other with steaming cups of coffee and doughnuts.

"So, you and Jane. . . when did _that_ happen?" Fischer asked.

"A few weeks ago," Lisbon admitted. "Right after the Henderson case. . . we were both so shaken up by the case that it just happened. We weren't planning on it, it was just dinner and then we came back here just to be together. And one thing led to another. . . and I do love him, Kim. I've loved him for years, for all the things he is and all the things he isn't—"

"I love you too."

Both Fischer and Lisbon turned around at the same time. Jane was standing in the threshold and smiling at them.

Fischer's stomach gave a pathetic twist at Jane's confession of love and how easily it had come, at how sincere it had sounded. She knew that it was different for the pair, way more different than it was for her and Cho. They had both faced adversity together and then spent years apart, but somehow they'd stayed in each other's heart. They had become so much a part of each other that nothing could keep them separated. Not murder or an ocean, or

She'd only known Cho for the better part of a year, their history was only one of closed case beers and a job well done, there weren't any close calls or serial killers tethering them together. She hadn't come along and picked Cho up from the ashes, healed his heart or given him a reason to live again. In fact, she hardly knew anything about him except for the bare minimum details. She didn't even know how he liked his coffee or what his favorite book was.

"And why have you decided to grace us with your presence on a beautiful morning like this one?" Jane asked, breaking into her thoughts, acting like the charged moment hadn't ever passed between him and Lisbon.

Suddenly, Fischer felt like she was intruding even more than before. The couple had probably_ just_ confessed that they loved each other. It was a time for them to focus on each other, to share more sweet nothings and to kiss, and maybe make love. To ask them to pay attention to her would be selfish.

"Kim's having some person problems today," Lisbon answered. "She came over to talk to with me about them."

"Well then, I'm sorry I interrupted."

"No you're not," Lisbon replied, smiling at him affectionately.

"No," Jane agreed, coming into the living room and sitting down next to her. "I'm really not. I can tell you what's bothering our lovely Agent Fischer."

_Of course he can_, Fischer griped inwardly. Outwardly, she forced a smile and looked straight at him. "And since you seem to know everything _so _well Jane, tell me what you think is bothering me."

"You're in love, of course. It's a new emotion for you, you're the of type who doesn't do serious relationships. You might sleep with a certain person more than once, but if it gets to be too personal than you bolt. Only this time, I don't think your bed buddy is the one getting serious our wanting it to be something more."

"Oh you don't, do you?"

"No," Jane replied, shaking his head. "This time, I think the person who wants more is you. But you don't know how to say anything. And that's what you hate even more than these unwanted feelings. You're the kind of person who sees something they want, sees someone they want and you go out and get it."

"Jane—" Lisbon started to scold him.

"No," Fischer interjected, a little relieved that she didn't have to say it, that he had said it all for her. "He's right that _is_ what's going on, Teresa. Except looking at the two of you, I'm even more lost than when I first came over here. I don't have any right to love him, I hardly know anything about him. We hardly have a history, not the kind that you do anyways."

Jane laughed kindly. "_We_ are hardly the rule, Kim. Teresa and I just got lucky, if you think you and this person could have something special then you should go after him. Don't make a twelve year mistake, if you do then you might wind up regretting it for the rest of your life."

Fischer sighed and shook her head. "I should have said this in the first place, but this person, he's against the rules."

"And we're against the rules too," Jane said. "But that's not stopping us, if you found the one for you, nothing should stand in your way. But that's the attitude you always have, isn't it?"

"I guess," Fischer answered, smiling at them. "And you two aren't exactly against the rules. As far as I know, there's nothing in the handbook about two consulting detectives being together. Just make sure to keep it out of the office."

"We will," Lisbon agreed, elbowing Jane when he was about to make an objection. "But Fischer, is this person you're seeing worth breaking the rules for? Worth taking a transfer for, if it comes to that?"

Fischer paused, taking a moment to think about it and then she nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"Even if you're the person who has to transfer?" Lisbon pressed.

"Yes," Fischer answered a little more strongly than before. She smiled and added jokingly, "Just as long as I don't get a demotion in the progress."

"Then do it," Jane told her. "Don't hold back this time, you've never done it before. Why start now?"

Fischer nodded, his pep talk built her up and gave her the push she needed, gave her the little taste of courage that she had been seeking. She didn't know what was going to happen, and she was still a little bit scared. But not enough to cut her losses and let go until she had fought tooth and nail for what she wanted, for a place by his side for the rest of their lives, for all of him. Especially the parts nobody else had ever gotten a chance to see.

She put her mug down on the coffee table and stood. "I should leave you two to your Saturday. Thanks for letting me intrude this long."

"No problem," Lisbon answered, smiling at her. "I hope you're feeling a little better."

Fischer returned her smile. "I am, thank you. You have a good day. I'll see you both on Monday."

"See you on Monday," Jane echoed.

Fischer smiled just a little bit wider. "I'll just see myself out."

She was almost out the door when she head Jane say, so about that I love you. . .

**.**

"Kim!" Cho said, opening the door and looking at her in surprise. "What are you doing here this morning? Was I supposed to know you were stopping by?"

"No," Fischer answered. "I was just in the neighborhood and I decided to surprise you. Actually, that isn't true. I wasn't in the neighborhood. I was across town with Lisbon and Jane—"

"Jane and Lisbon?" Cho frowned. "Are they finally together?"

"Yeah, I guess it happened around the same time we did. Just don't tell them that I told you, I think they want to keep it a secret for now."

"Okay. . ." Cho trailed off. "Anyways, what are you doing here if you were just with Jane and Lisbon?"

Fischer opened her mouth to reply, ready to blurt out everything she wanted to say, but then she decided that she'd need to take the more subtle approach with him, for the moment, anyways. "I wanted to see you."

Cho opened the door a little wider and stepped aside. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"I don't mean it that way," Fischer said. "I meant that I wanted to see you. To talk like two normal people and maybe have a cup of coffee with you this morning."

"Are you sure?" Cho asked. "You said when we started sleeping together, it was just that. . . that you didn't do romantic entanglements."

"And it's still just _that_," Fischer lied smoothly, folding her arm s across her chest. "We don't have to talk if you don't want, we'll just have coffee together and then see what happens afterwards. I think it'll be worth it."

"Come on in," Cho said. "I was just going to put on a fresh pot. I don't think I know how you take your coffee."

_But you're going to_, Fischer answered in her head. _When I'm done with you, you're going to know _everything_ about me and I'm going to know_ everything_ about you._

"Fischer?" Cho asked, looking at her. "Your coffee?"

"Black," Fisher replied. "Black with one sugar. How do you take your coffee? Just in case I ever decide to go on a coffee run before work."

"Black, three sugars," Cho answered. "Unless it's Christmas, then I like the gingerbread lattés from Starbucks."

Fischer followed him into the kitchen with a sly smile.

When she was done with him, he wasn't going to know what hit him, but he was going to want her to stay all the same. And they were going to love each other, for all the things they were and all the things they wanted to be.

She just needed to catch him first.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**I don't know if this exactly fit the quote I chose, but I've had the idea ever since I first found the quote. At first it was going to be Rigsby/Van Pelt in Cho/Fischer's place, but then Fischer happened and I couldn't resist putting them together instead. Especially since Rigspelt already happened and I wasn't a huge fan of the coupling to begin with. Anyways, tell me what you thought. I'd love to hear your feedback. And in case you were wondering, yes at some point, this might be a longer story. I'm still thinking about it though.**

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 3/8/2014_**


	32. Inspirations & Letters

**Story 32 – Inspirations & Letters **

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: lili87, Totorsg, joyo yoyo, Wldwmn, Jane Doe51, and AngryLittlePrincess **

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

**Rated: T**

**.**

**"Have you ever met a woman who inspires you to love? Until your every sense is filled with her? You inhale her. You taste her. You see your unborn child in your eyes and know that your heart has at last found a home. Your life begins with her and without her, it must surely end."**

**Don Jaun Demarco_**

"You are distracted again this morning Senor Jane."

"Oh. . ." Jane looked up from his tea. "Yes, I guess I am."

"Your mind is miles away in America again, si?"

"Yes," Jane answered, seeing no point in denying it. "It's always there."

"Your woman is the one who has you so lost in thought, doesn't she?"

"I've told you Alfredo, she isn't _my_ woman," Jane replied. "She _never_ was and she probably _never_ will be!"

"She wouldn't have you then?"

"I. . . I never asked her," Jane confessed. "The timing was never right. . . _I _was never right for her."

"But she never said this to you, no? You made it all up in your head, didn't you? You never gave her an opportunity to speak for herself."

Jane looked away from his new friend. "I knew what she would say if I asked her. But I wouldn't have liked it. I would always be afraid that something bad would have happened to her. Always wondered if she were with me because she wanted to fix me."

"But what does _that _matter? When you first told me about this _bonita_, you said she inspired you to love again. That with her, your life began again and without her, you felt like it was ending. You said that every time you saw her, it was like going home. You said that she put up with you and all of your _mierda_. And now you're telling me that you never would have known if she was just with you because she wanted to fix you. I do not see why that should be a worry. That looks like love to me my friend."

Jane got a far off look in his eyes again as she waltzed through his mind again, filling him with an acute sense of longing.

"You are always thinking about her, why don't you do something about it?" Alfredo asked.

"Like what? Invite her to come and visit me?" Jane said sarcastically. "She wouldn't come. She probably doesn't want anything to do with me. Not after what I've done to her."

Alfredo shook his head. "So then, don't invite her to come. But you can always write her letters though. Let her know you care about her, that you are always thinking about her. That you miss her. You might not hear back from her, but having some form of communication is better than nothing at all, isn't it?"

Jane smiled. "You know Alfredo; I usually don't like people who are smarter than me."

"Well, there always has to be an exception to the rule, doesn't there?"

**.**

"You are getting in touch with her then? The woman who is always in your heart, the one who always seems to make you so sad?"

"Yes Mrs. Quijada, I am writing to her," Jane answered, addressing the envelope care of Pete and Sam.

"Good! I think she will be happy to hear from you!"

"I do too Mrs. Paz," Jane said, thinking about their sad lack of communication the last time they had been separated by only a couple hundred miles and not an ocean.

"And do you think you will hear back from her?" Mrs. Quijada asked.

"I highly doubt it," Jane answered. "I can't even let her know where I am."

"But what if one day she wants to find you?" Mrs. Paz asked. "How sad that you should be separated by a lack of address."

"Not knowing where I am is for her own good," Jane replied. "She could only get into more trouble if she knew where I was. How much is postage today?"

Mrs. Paz named the price and Jane paid for it and then entrusted his letter to the two senoras for a safe delivery to its lovely recipient.

**.**

"We need to go and pray for them," Mrs. Paz said, folding her arms across her expansive bosom. "It is wrong that two young lovers should be separated like this."

Mrs. Quijada clucked her tongue. "You know they are not lovers, Alfredo told us as much. Besides, maybe she isn't that important to him. Patrick hasn't even told us her name."

"She is important to him though," Mrs. Paz insisted. "Alfredo told us that she was the one who healed Patrick's heart. The one who inspired him to love again."

"Si, this is true," Mrs. Quijada relented. "But how can we pray for somebody when we don't even know her name?"

"Ah, but Patrick put it on the envelope," Mrs. Paz answered, waving it in the air. "Her name is Teresa Lisbon."

"Very well then. We will go and pray for them, we will pray that this letter gets to Teresa safely and that Patrick will be reunited with her soon. It is the only way to do it."

Franklin stopped Jane before he left with the American police. "You are going back to her then?" he asked in a whisper. "You are going back to the lovely Teresa?"

Jane answered him with a grin.

"Go and get 'em!" Franklin said. "Bring her back to meet us all someday."

"I will," Jane promised even though he wasn't one hundred percent certain of what was waiting for him back in the United States.

**.**

She agreed to join him in Texas. When she came into his detention suite and told him that _they _were joining the FBI, he was happier than he had been in a while. He thought things would finally return to normal between them, that maybe they could finally find something new among the old. But then

Kim Fischer was always dragging him along on a case and he spent even less time with Lisbon then he had when they were separated by an ocean. All they had were stolen looks and hurried goodnights on the elevator ride to the lobby after a long day of work.

And Jane hated it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to bring them back to the place they had been pre-Red John. Whenever he tried to get back things to normal, she would always come up with some sort of excuse not to go out with him. He had gotten used to the word _no _coming from her lips, but it still didn't stop him from trying. He hadn't spent two years courting her through letters just to get rejected by her when they had come face-to-face again. But he still couldn't find the words to tell her everything that had come so easily to him with an island full of people that he had barely known in the beginning.

He was on the brink of losing her when he finally got the courage up to say something. He didn't care if she thought he was speaking because he was about to lose her. It was sort of the truth, anyways. Besides, he didn't see why it mattered what the catalyst was that made him tell her just so long as he finally told her that he loved her.

He watched her hug Fischer and Cho goodbye and then shake hands with Abbott. He watched her smile at him, a smile that spoke of everything that they had ever shared. A smile that invited him to speak now or forever hold his peace. He watched her walk away, stealing a quick glance at him as she pressed the elevator button with her elbow. And then he flew off the couch and bolted for the stairs. For one of the first times in his life, he didn't want an audience.

**.**

"This was a lot easier when I told an island full of strangers about you," Jane admitted as they looked at each other across the parking lot.

"Pretend I'm a stranger then," Lisbon told him gently as she hefted the cardboard box she was holding higher. "Pretend I'm one of the women at the post office or Hugo, or something."

Jane smiled. He had spent a lot of time talking to Hugo about Teresa Lisbon, and the best thing had been that the dog had never answered back, never tried to give him advice about her. "Well. . ." he said, trailing off so he could choose his next words very carefully, he smiled a little more when they finally came to him. "Have you ever met a woman that inspired you to love even after you thought you could never love again?"

"Go on," Lisbon said, the look in her eyes stole his heart a little more than before.

"Did your life begin again the day you met her? Did you feel like your life ended the day you got on a plane and left her, maybe forever? When you saw her again, did it feel like you were coming home again?"

"Oh Patrick. . ." Lisbon whispered his Christian name slipped unbidden from his lips.

"I met somebody like that," Jane continued. "And every time I looked at her, it was like I could see this whole future. This whole future I didn't ever think I would have a chance at, not thirteen years ago. . . not even thirteen months ago. But I hoped. . ."

"I hoped so too," she answered, her voice low and filled with emotion.

"You're not really going to go off with Agent Pike are you?" Jane asked.

Lisbon released a deep breath. "Well, I can't just change my mind Jane. What would people think of me if I did that?"

"Why would it matter?" Jane answered. "I love you Teresa. This thing with Marcus, it's only sparks.

But sparks fade eventually, its what's left afterwards that really matters. And I think that _I _can give you what's left after the sparks leave, I think I could give you sparks every day for the rest of our lives. Please give me one more chance."

Lisbon's eyes filled with tears then. "I've never stopped giving you chances."

"Then don't stop now," Jane begged, taking a step towards her. "Please, just let me show you how sincere I am. I don't want to make you cry anymore, I don't want to break your heart again. I just want to be with you for as long as you'll have me. And if ever you get tired of me then I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove myself worthy of your taking me back."

Lisbon laughed then. "I forgot how persistent you could be when you really want something Patrick Jane."

Jane pushed a strand of hair from her face. "You have no idea how persistent I can _really _be," he told her. "I haven't even started yet."

"Convince me," Lisbon whispered.

"Watch me," Jane replied, pulling her towards him gently.

Lisbon dropped her box and wrapped her arms around his neck as their lips met in a mutual first kiss.

**.**

"Ah. This must be your lovely _Senorita _Teresa," Mrs. Paz said, beaming as Jane introduced them.

"You are reunited then?"

Jane smiled and put his arm around Lisbon's waist. "Yes, we're reunited and closer than ever," he answered.

Mrs. Paz clasped her hands together. "But this is _good _news! We have been praying for so long that this would happen."

"_Si_," Mrs. Quijada agreed, patting Jane on the cheek. "I was just about to give up, but I suppose that is when He finally decides to act."

Jane opened his mouth to disagree, but Lisbon elbowed him in the ribs and thanked the two matrons for their prayers as she agreed with Mrs. Quijada that sometimes it wasn't until it looked like all hope was lost that there were suddenly some results.

Jane figured she could probably relate to that.

He introduced her to Franklin next and he spent a good twenty minutes gushing over her, and telling her that she was every bit as beautiful as _Senor Patrick_ had described.

When they had finally gotten away from Franklin, he brought her over to Alfredo's.  
>Alfredo smiled when he saw his old friend coming towards him, holding the hand of a beautiful brunette. He knew exactly who it was just by looking at her, just by the look in Patrick's eyes.<p>

"This must be her," he said before Jane could open his mouth. "This is the girl who inspired you to love again when all hope was lost."

"Yes," Jane answered. "This _is _her. This, this is Teresa."

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

**Confession, I wrote this in a one-and-a-half sitting. I was inspired by conversations I've been having with my father, mostly. I hope you enjoyed it, I had fun writing it. Leave a review with your thoughts below. Thanks! **

**Love,**

**Holly, 3/25/2014_**


	33. There Is Nothing Lost

**Story 33 – There Is Nothing Lost**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, lili87, tikismile, Wldwmn, Jane Doe51, AngryLittlePrincess, Marcia Santos, LAurore, Ilovetea, and make-mine-a-kiaro**

**Author's Note: The title was taken from the "Sense & Sensibility" soundtrack.**

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to somebody else.**

**.**

"**My heart is and always will be yours." **

**Sense & Sensibility (1995)_**

At first, she was flattered by the attention. After years and years of seeing Van Pelt, Rigsby, Jane, and even _Cho _get the appreciative, second looks it was more than a little nice to have it directed towards her.

She deserved it even like Marcus Pike had so kindly told her the rainy afternoon he had brought her flowers _just because_. So she let him flatter her and shower her with little presents for a while, never allowing anything more with the charming FBI agent than the odd dinner date. They didn't even hold hands during their brief courtship. And it was fun while it lasted, it was more fun than she had had in a long time.

But then the fun faded when he started to press her for a commitment, began to question why she never let him kiss her goodnight, why she never invited him into her bed even just for an hour or so. She understood that he was a man with needs, but she couldn't bring herself to be the woman to meet them. She didn't know why she couldn't bring herself to meet his needs, it should have been _so_ easy to give herself over to him completely. He wasn't bad to look at and he was completely smitten with her, was working so hard to sweep her off her feet. There was just something missing, she felt a sense of emptiness and loneliness when she was with him.

But she continued on with it anyways, hoping that one day she would wake up and being with him would suddenly make sense. That all the pieces would fall into place and she'd be happy to call him _her's._ That she would want to bring him home to meet her brothers and that she could picture building a life with him. She stuck it out truly believing that she would come to this conclusion eventually. That happily ever after was just around the bend, that there was a light at the end of the tunnel that was her confused and tangled up emotions.

But it didn't happen. The more she stayed with him, the more certain she was that he _wasn't _the One for her. That she would have been a lot better off letting him admire her from afar and staying single. Being unhappy alone had somehow been better than being unhappy with somebody who adored her.

Marcus was the one to realize what the root of the problem was first. He told her what it was one night over burgers and fries. She could barely believe it herself when he first said it, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

She had never been able to give herself to him because she had already given her heart away to somebody else a long time ago. She hadn't known about it, had been wrapped up in too many other things to realize when it had happened. And afterwards, she had been too hurt to realize it, she had mistaken it for so many other things.

It was over burgers and fries and an amicable breakup that she realized exactly why Special Agent Marcus Pike had been placed in her. She had needed to find herself and he had helped her to do it in a way that she hadn't expected at all.

**.**

"You knew the whole time, didn't you?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, just curious.

"I did," Jane answered.

"_Why _didn't you tell me?"

"You would have just thought I was interfering or being selfish if I did. I wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell you lots of times. But every single time I came close to doing it, I saw the conversation between us playing out so perfectly, I couldn't do it. Besides, you liked Pike and I wanted you to be happy."

"Yes, but I wasn't happy. Not with Marcus. I suppose I should have been, he's everything a girl could want. But in the end, it just wasn't enough. I didn't love him, not even a little bit."

"I know. I thought I was doing the right thing. . ."

"And you _were_," she assured him. "I know I wouldn't have been happy if you came waltzing along, declaring your love for me just as soon as Marcus was in the picture. But still, you should have said _something_. My displeasure with you would have faded eventually. . ."

"But you came to the conclusion yourself. That is even better than my telling you."

"Actually, I didn't." Lisbon laughed. "As good of a detective I am, I do a shabby job when it comes to deciphering matters of the heart. Marcus was the one who told me that my heart belonged to you. That it would probably _always_ belong to you. And so, here I am. Asking you if you'll have me, if you'll give me a second chance."

"And it should be the other way around. I am the one who has wronged you so many times.

Even now, you didn't do anything against me except for maybe make me worry a little bit that it was too late for us. Too late for me to love you, to try and have something more than the friendship we've shared."

"I didn't mean to worry you. I didn't even know you felt that way about me."

"I always knew, I had just trained myself to be content with the fact we'd probably be friends for the rest of our lives. Pike had everything in me screaming, _holy crud I love Lisbon!_ and I did want to tell you. I really did."

"You should have," Lisbon whispered. "Because then maybe I could have told you that I love you."

Jane got up and tilted his head, studying her as he pushed her hair out of her face and then clasped her hands in his. He smiled. "Same."

Lisbon slipped her hands from his and framed his face with them, for a breath of a minute _she _studied _him_. The girlish part of her wanted to commit this moment to memory. She paused for a moment. "Thanks for being patient with me these past few months."

And then she kissed him, reveling in the softness of his lips and the way his mouth tasted like expensive _Earl Grey_ tea. She realized that subconsciously she had been dreaming about this moment with him for years.

His kisses were so fervent, she wondered if he had been dreaming about it even longer than she had been.

"My heart is your's," she told him huskily, puncturing every single word with a kiss. "And it always will be."

Jane nodded speechlessly, trying to tell her without the words that he felt the same way about her. He was too overwhelmed to say it, but he needed to let her know. Couldn't bear for her to wonder until he was able to say it too.

She smiled and kissed him again. And he knew that she understood they were standing on mutual ground.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note II:**

**Sense & Sensibility is one of my absolute favorite movies **_**ever**_**. Yes, my homeschool might be showing. But I don't care. I hope you enjoyed it even if you have never seen any of the Jane Austin films. Leave a review and tell me what you thought, please. I am looking forward to your feedback.**

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 3/29/2014_**

**P.S**

**Aside from my Sherlock/Molly story, I will be posting exclusively in this collection for a while. I only have 17 stories left to write. But don't fear, I am going over some ideas for a Jane/Lisbon multi-chapter. We'll see what happens. It's just the matter of choosing an idea.**


	34. Something Always Brings Me Back To You

**Story 34 – Something Always Brings Me Back To You**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story**

**Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Totorsg, tikismile, lili87, Marcia Santos, Wldwmn, and Jane Doe51**

_For Leah_

**.**

"**Let me tell you something. You gonna always be tied down to me whether you like it or not. We're like magnets. . ."**

**Why Do Fools Fall In Love_**

"You can't go off and marry Pike!"

His hurried statement startled her; she spun around and fixed her best glare at him, her pulse skidding to a complete stop. "I'm not going off and marrying Marcus," she answered. "Not yet anyways."

She knew she shouldn't have said the last part, knew it would only hurt him. But she steeled her heart and folded her arms across his chest, sending him a silent challenge. These days, its seemed like she was always challenging him but he never rose to the occasion. He was disgustingly supportive and distant, just like she had requested of him all those months ago on a plane ride back from New York City.

He lifted his chin as if to say _challenge met_ and looked directly at her. "I don't want you to go. Not as Pike's girlfriend or anything else. I want you to stay here. . . with me."

"It's too late," she said definitely. "Everything's already been set up, I'm going away with Marcus and there's nothing you can do or say that will make me stay."

"But everything hasn't been set!" He answered. "I've heard things, like how you haven't gotten a job there yet."

"No. . ." she admitted slowly. "But it's only a matter of time before I do, I have good credentials and I'm a good cop. They'd be foolish not to take me."

"And if you don't? Then what?" He asked. "Are you really going to be content being Pike's arm candy the rest of your life?"

She winced and her arms dropped to her side, defenseless. It wasn't like it was something she hadn't thought of, she just hadn't wanted to admit it to herself. Even though the truth was staring her in the face, he only ever took her out places that required high heels and cocktail dresses when all she really desired was a cheeseburger and fries, and the latest Marvel flick.

"It won't be like that," she said inspite of herself.

"And then there's still the fact that you barely know anything about him," he continued like she hadn't said anything.

More truths. She only knew the basics, like how he took his coffee and what side of the bed he slept on, that he had questionable tastes in music (for a man who liked classic movies, the fact that he listened to rap music rankled her) and that he didn't attend church. But when it came to other things, like his divorce, he always changed the subject. She knew if she was going to start a life with him, she deserved to know what had happened with him and the ex-Mrs. Pike, but she didn't want to intrude.

"So? Those are things you learn over years together!" She said defensively. "It took me years and years to get to really know who you are, and I'm still not sure that I even know the real you."

"But you do know all of me, I've given you everything from the skeletons in my closet to my. . ." he trailed off and sighed deeply. "You know, I think you're just running away again."

She raised an eyebrow, her heart beating a wild tattoo against her ribcage. "Again? What do you mean I'm running away _again_?"

Except, she knew exactly what he meant. She was running away from him just like she had run away from Greg because what they had was real and tangible and as scary as hell. And in a way, it was even bigger than what she had shared with her ex-fiancé. Because she loved the man standing front of her with a passion that she had never known she even possessed. So, she was flinging herself into the arms of safe and comfortable, even though diving head first into a relationship with her ex-consultant and best friend would be even more safe than traveling into the great unknown with a man she just liked.

"You know what else I think?" He asked. "I think that you'll be back. Maybe it'll be six months, maybe it'll be six years, but you _will _be back. Because whenever something separates us, something always brings us back together again. I've felt the pull every single time I've been away from you. And I know you've felt it too."

She didn't reply, she didn't need to. It was the truth; whenever they had been separated she _had_ felt a pull towards him. She just had never been brave enough to act out on it, to take the jump and try to find him. Even now, she wasn't brave enough to stay. . . to say it, especially since he was letting her go. Yes, he was doing so with the certainty that she would come back, but still. . . she hadn't said anything to him, had held onto her stubborn pride for so long, she wasn't about to break now.

"I have to go," she said. "I'm going to be late for my plane if I don't leave now."

"Go then," he answered. "I'll see you soon."

And that was it. There weren't any scenes or speeches, he didn't kiss her goodbye or beg her to stay. Just a certainty that she would back, she wanted to say something. Something to disappoint him, something to hurt his feelings. But she couldn't form the words, couldn't even bring herself to say goodbye to _him_. So, she turned around and walked away. She didn't even look back at him.

It was too much, too late.

Except, sitting in the airport she realized that she couldn't go to Washington, DC with Marcus Pike. He was right, the hold that he had on her heart was too great, it wouldn't be fair to anybody to uproot her life for something that wasn't going to work. It wasn't fair to Pike to make promises that she wasn't going to keep, or to play around with Jane's heart. Not when he had been standing in front of her wearing his heart on his sleeve and telling her that they were tethered to each other. She hadn't even left yet and she felt the pull back to him, it was so strong she felt like she was suffocating. She realized what she had thought all along, she couldn't leave. She had wanted for him to say something to her, to ask her to stay. When he had given her what she had wanted, she had still rejected him.

It was time to stop. Time to stop making him chase her, time to stop playing games, and to accept her fate. She was going to be tied down to Patrick Jane for the rest of her life. As she grabbed her carryon bag and ran out of the airport, she found that she really didn't care.

**.**

He was still at the hotel, having dinner with the rest of the team when she found him.

"Agent Lisbon, I trust this means you're staying with us?" Abbott asked, beaming at her.

"Yes," she answered, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Good," Abbot said, glancing at the rest of the team. "Well, I think we'll just leave the two of you alone. Give you a chance to talk."

"You're back," he said when they were all gone; he glanced at his wrist watch. "That only took you two hours. I thought it would take a lot longer. . . I thought. . ."

"I know," she answered, coming towards him and putting her hands on his cheeks. "And I am so sorry, it's just that. . . I don't know everything has been so messed up lately. I guess I wanted you to make the first move when I could have made it the whole time. I don't know why I didn't."

He tilted his head towards her's and kissed her, finally giving in the need to touch her, to see if her lips felt like they did in all of his fantasies. But it was even better because it was the real thing. She was there and she tasted like Starbuck's blonde roast coffee and watermelon Chapstick. After a few seconds he pulled away and looked at her, looking at her like he expected her to disappear any second. Like she had disappeared a dozen times already.

She shook her head and wove her fingers through his curls. "I'm still here," she whispered. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away from you, you know. Something always brings me back to you. We're like magnets."

"I know," he replied, smiling at her and kissing her again. "I know."

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note:**

**The title of the story comes from **_**Gravity**_** by Sara Bareilles. I hope you enjoyed this story, I certainly enjoyed writing it. I am not a Marcus Pike fan at all, so I really like putting together stories where I pull Lisbon away from him and put her with Jane. I honestly don't think he knows her at all. Jane on the other hand, Jane knows her the best. Anyways, we only have 11 days until the season finale. I hope everybody's ready, I know I am. **

**Until Next Time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 5/7/2014_**


	35. Turn This House Into A Home

**Story 35 – Turn This House Into A Home**

**A Jane & Lisbon Story **

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: Tiffany Johnson, kathiann superwoman1015, Totorsg, lili87, Ilovetea, LouiseKurylo, tikismile, Wldwmn, Jane Doe51, and AngryLittlePrincess for reviewing story 34 and various other ones in this collection.**

**Author's Note:**

**This story is a follow-up to my story "Cons & the Cape Cod" but I tried to write it so my non-Cons & the Cape Cod readers could still read it. I hope it's easy to follow. The title is from One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home covered by Barbra Streisand. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Rated: K+**

**.**

"**When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want your life to start right away."**

**When Harry Met Sally_**

Patrick Jane watched as Teresa Lisbon disappeared from sight, his lips tingling from their kiss. . . a prelude to a goodbye neither of them could say aloud. Outside a car drove away and then she was gone from his life. He collapsed on the porch floor like gravity had given out beneath him and buried his head in his hands, waiting for her to turn around and change her mind even though she never would. He waited for tears to come that never did. And somewhere in the middle of the night, he found his way to bed barely getting into his pajamas before he crawled under the covers and fell into a restless sleep with images of her dancing in his head.

Jane woke up the morning after she'd left feeling like something was missing from his life. It took him a moment to remember that she had left him the night before to go back to California. He looked at her side of the bed and sighed as he grabbed her pillow and pulled it over his face. He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking in the scent of cinnamon and vanilla. For a second, he and Lisbon were back in bed together, wasting a perfectly good morning under freshly washed bed linens that smelled like ocean breeze dryer sheets. When he opened his eyes again, Lisbon had disappeared and the ache in his gut was as large as the Grand Canyon. He had all the tell-tale signs of a broken heart. He pushed the covers away and sat up, forcing his eyes to the window and the early morning sunrise creeping through gauzy curtains. As much as he wanted to spend the day wallowing in heartache and self-pity, he knew it wasn't going to do him any good.

Wallowing in heartache and self-pity wasn't going to bring her back to him. For the first time in his life, the only option he had was to try and move on with his life. After a split second, he decided to do just that.

The second day, Jane really decided to move on with his life he put Archie in his crate and drove into Boston to apply for school and to look for a place to live. He found one just off Charles River that allowed dogs and was close to the college of his choice. He put down a deposit without thinking about it much. Then, he went and signed up for the teacher's track at the college down the street. He bought books and then ate a late lunch at Au Bon Pain while he poured over his text books, drinking in every word of lessons he had never gotten to learn.

And for a little while, he forgot that Lisbon was gone.

The third day, Jane went for a long walk with Archie on Marconi Beach. He sent flowers down the ocean like he had done months earlier and let go of Angela and Charlotte for real. He knew they would always be there with him, but if he kept dwelling on them forever then the moving on he was trying to do was going to be impossible. He closed his eyes as the ocean breeze blew through his hair and for a brief moment, he thought he could sense Angela's presence beside him.

But he stopped the thought from blooming completely. After all, he didn't believe in those sorts of things. There was no need to start and entertain them now.

Jane left the beach when it had gotten dark out and drove home with a sense of peace. He fell into bed without eating dinner and made patterns and shapes with the shadows on the ceiling. He tried harder to forget that Lisbon wasn't in bed with him. He knew that eventually he would have to let her go too, but he wanted to hang on to her for a little bit longer. He felt like he had a right to.

The fifth day Lisbon was gone; Jane started to make plans to close the house up for the winter. Once school started, he didn't think he would be coming back to the Cape Cod. Not even for study weekends, it was too lonely without anybody there except for the dog to keep him company.

Jane looked around the house and thought that maybe he'd rent it out to families the next summer. He didn't think he could come back after everything he had been through there. There were too many memories he didn't want to relive. So, he bought a new rug for the guest room and removed all traces that anything had ever happened there. There was one less nightmare to think about; a Massachusetts ghost story that would die before it even got a chance to be told.

It was one more house that wasn't a home.

On the sixth day, Jane went searching for religion. He went to Lisbon's church on Sunday and after the mass was over, he had a lengthy conversation about the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost and Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ with her priest over a long lunch of seafood and iced tea. He listened carefully for the first time in his life and didn't insult the priest's intelligence for believing in a higher power.

After Father Flannigan had finished talking, he looked straight at him. "Teresa has told me something about your plight. I do hope you've found peace now."

Jane took a long sip of iced tea and then nodded. "I'm starting to," he answered.

"Good. I hope you continue to pursue it," Father Flannigan said.

"I'm planning on it," he replied, another pang of regret shot through him.

"Maybe one day she will find what she is looking for and come back to you," Father Flannigan told him, sensing the burden Jane had with Lisbon's being away. "Leaving you wasn't the easiest decision she made."

"Probably not, but she still left."

"If it helps any, I advised her against it," Father Flannigan revealed cautiously.

Jane smiled. "It doesn't really. But thank you."

Soon afterwards, they paid the bill and then he detained the good Father a few hours longer with questions about destiny and heaven and if everything was pre-destined. He didn't think he was any closer to buying into organized religion, but he understood why people needed it a little better.

On the seventh day Lisbon was gone, Jane heard a car pull up in the driveway a little bit before breakfast. He got out of bed and peeked out of the curtains to see who was coming to see him because he didn't think he was going to see anybody from his past ever again.

Jane's heart caught in his throat when he saw _her _get out of the limo. He hadn't even gotten over her yet and there she was, like she hadn't even left. His heart swelled and he was sure when they were face-to-face that he wasn't going to be able to speak. This was a big deal for him because there had only a handful of times in his life when he had been speechless.

But when he opened the door for her, the words came spilling out from him without hesitation. She answered him confidently and without any doubts laced in her voice. And then Jane told Lisbon that he loved her.

They kissed and it felt like coming home.

He didn't know how he thought like he could ever do without her.

Lisbon said that she wanted to get married, in the back of his mind he hoped that she would want to get married sooner than later. He didn't want to wait anymore; his life had been on hold long enough. And now that he knew what he wanted, he wanted his life to start right away.

He hoped that she would feel the same way.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**Again, I hope you could all follow this story. I tried to make it easy for everybody to read. If you liked it, please leave a review and tell me what you thought. I will have an 8 song soundtrack posted in the next couple days, it's 8 songs that fit the eight "scenes" in this story. You can find that on my 8tracks account under browneyesparker. And in the meantime, if you have a second, check out "Love, Teresa". **

**Until next time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 8/8/2014 **


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